Every Wednesday afternoon during the winter and spring terms all boys in their first year of studying the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma, head out into the community to work with either a school, charity or care home. All the activities undertaken provide a challenging and formative experience for boys, while fulfilling a genuine need in our local community.
This forms part of the ‘service’ strand of the IB’s CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service) element and contributes to the schools’ Community Partnership Programme, a whole school initiative that aims to ensure that every boy in school makes a meaningful contribution to the community by the time he leaves.
One of our regular community partnerships is with Bedford Disabled Horse Riding Association, a Bedford charity that uses horse riding therapy to help hundreds of disabled children in Bedfordshire receive physiotherapy in a subtle and enjoyable way.
One of the main drivers of our community partnerships is that they are mutually beneficial to both the organisation we are working with, as well as the boys themselves. When boys help in the community, they engage more fully with the world around them and learn about their local town and how to be responsible citizens within it.
Lower Sixth Former James Sprange, who has been working with Bedford Disabled Horse Riding Association since the start of term, explained, “I chose to work with this group because I knew it would take me out of my comfort zone. I have never really been around horses before, and I don’t often interact with young children.”
“I am gaining more people skills, working with people much older and much younger than me. I am learning general problem-solving skills, for example, we have to ensure that everything is set up correctly before the child mounts the horse, and so I have to get that right to ensure the child is safe.”
Lower Sixth Former Sahvan Jutla, who also works with the riding school, told us, “Children attending this riding group get the chance to experience a new environment with different activities that they would not be able to do in school and it is lovely to be helping them to do this.”
“I wanted to work with children and animals, and thought this sounded fun. I am much more empathetic now, especially towards other people’s challenges, trying to help people without limiting them because of their challenges.”
Earlier this month, the boys were able to join the charity’s annual Christmas party where they helped out with the nativity play, Christmas games and clearing up afterwards. The boys also got to meet the guest of honour, Mrs Susan Lousada, His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant and a keen horsewoman herself.
