Public Benefit Report 2020/21
Forward Radley has always inspired its boys and staff to believe that our core values should never change: the timeless Christian qualities of humanity, compassion and understanding of others. We also believe in service, a recognition that with privilege comes a sense of responsibility to support and bring opportunity to others within our local, national and international communities.
The year 2020/21 has been like no other, with much of our usual work within local communities, alongside access to our facilities, restricted by lockdown measures. However, the creativity and endeavour of our boys, staff and partners has enabled new opportunities and different ways to collaborate on a wide range of activities. It has not always been easy. This year, perhaps more than ever, we have learnt from the flexibility and resilience of our partners. While the College site has been a quieter place; through online collaboration we have reached far beyond our gates while at the same time welcoming many more to a virtual Radley.
There is a genuine sense of pride in the completion of this benefits document. In recording what has taken place, it celebrates so much excellent work by so many during challenging times. At the same time the document highlights where we can do better to bring further opportunity to our boys, staff and communities. What is not in doubt is that we are stronger by working together.
John Sparks Director of Partnerships
Community Activity & Service Every boy at Radley is given the opportunity to engage in work within their local community. This may be through volunteering, charity fund raising or support in local schools and organisations. This year more opportunities to work online have been developed, whereby boys and staff have supported academic coaching, lectures, primary and secondary curriculum, and companionship for the elderly. Through our community action and service programme we have been able to impact in a wide range of local projects with many reciprocal benefits. Lockdown restrictions has moved many of our regular activities outside or online, while other new collaborations have emerged through opportunities that have presented themselves.
Local community action and service Through our Community Action and Service Programme 130 boys and staff have contributed over 1,900 hours of service to the local communities of Abingdon and Radley in collaboration with members of the local Parish Council, residential homes, local charities and organisations. In addition, during lockdown while at home, 43 boys completed 288 hours of volunteering as part of the community action challenge.
Number of boys Village litter clearance Community music concerts Gardening Radley church Gardening Littlemore church Fundraising Oxfordshire Youth Sensory garden Headway Trust Peachcroft farm allotments Peachcroft farm labouring Village speed camera analysis Arboretum planting Forest school creation South Oxfordshire Food & Educational Academy Clearance of village pond Total
35 11 4 4 8 4 4 4 4 6 6 5 3 98
Number of staf 12 4 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 32
In our immediate local community activities across the year have included a litter clearance along 5 miles of the Thames tow path; clearing and replanting around the village pond, to provide safe access for primary school children for science observation; gardening and maintenance work around the churchyard of St James the Great, Radley and St Mary and St Nicholas Church, Littlemore, working alongside local parishioners, the boys’ efforts have been acknowledged by the Radley Parish Council and Radley Parochial Church Council; a sensory garden developed with Headway Trust, a local brain injury charity; development of fundraising ideas with Oxford Youth; analysis of speed data within Radley village for the Parish Council, it is planned that boys will take ownership of two speed cameras and monitor traffic in the village.
Other local activities have supported environment projects including the management of a community vegetable garden at Peachcroft Farm, helping provide senior members of the community a space to plant vegetables and flowers; agricultural labour at Peachcroft farm, dismantling a strawberry field, cleaning industrial animal feeders, and assembling packaging for produce shipment; the planting of an arboretum consisting of 100 new trees, providing an nature reserve for local primary children to learn about different ecological systems, and local flora and fauna; creation of a forest school resource which will eventually be used by primary schoolers.
‘The pond area has become more aesthetically pleasing for the school children and residents and it's such an asset having a working party from the College to help with its upkeep.’
Radley Parish Council
Where our students have been unable to get to a particular location due to lockdown restrictions, we have explored online opportunities. Through this support has continued for the Didcot food bank distribution centre, helping to organise the distribution of supermarket donated food to food banks in the region. Apart from giving this social enterprise much needed manpower help, this partnership has provided our boys with an insight into the issue of dealing with UK food poverty.
Community music Support of the Elderly within the community has continued through the recording of music for our regular partners amongst nursing homes and respite homes around Oxfordshire. Radley College musicians recorded four concerts which were distributed to 55 homes via Vimeo. Two of these were 'Christmas specials' which were used for Christmas parties. Our musicians also provided a live concert for two local nursing homes in December. During the Lent term, two 'zoom' concerts were given each week to which residents at local nursing homes, hospitals, sheltered accommodation were invited. The boys and staff also worked with the charity Moving Music to reach out to people with dementia and their carers - many of them attended the weekly concerts. Two Saturday coffee concerts were also given for local homes specialising in Alzheimer care.
Fundraising and volunteering for Charities Total raised in list above £133,902.15. Data is correct as at: 16th May 2021. The actual amount is likely to increase on account of some appeals still being open and gift aid still to be claimed in some cases.
Charity Charlie Waller Memorial Trust Thames Valley Air Ambulance Footsteps Foundation Young Minds Maggie's Oxford Luke's Fund/Ronald McDonald House Footsteps Foundation Gehandu Secondary School, Tanzania Eastbourne Down's Syndrome Support group Hugo Rutland Memorial Fund Shelter Irish Retriever Rescue Respite nursing for Oxfordshire’s Sick Youngsters Sea Life Trust (Beluga Whale Sanctuary) Oxfordshire Mind Royal British Legion NHS England Alzheimer's Society October club (Wantage) Cricket Builds Hope/Gahanga Cricket Stadium Ruth Strauss Foundation. Ruth Strauss Foundation and Ready Set Go The Bright Ideas
Amount raised 34,000.00 32,184.00 25,866.00 15,785.00 8,370.00 4,000.00 2,695.00 2,475.00 2,260.00 2,200.00 1,174.94 551.00 500.00 461.00 445.00 412.21 313.00 155.00 55.00
On behalf of all the children at Footsteps, we want to thank the entire Radley community for all the incredible fundraising they are doing to support our charity. The funds raised will help to ensure we can provide bespoke, intensive physiotherapy for disabled children in 2021, despite the difficult economic environment. Foundation Manager, Footsteps
In the final few weeks of the Summer Term 2020, Freddie Lindblom with a number of 6.2 boys and friends walking 18km; George Bell and the C Social Removes who 'Hit-ABall' for 12 Hours for Access Sport; Jude Wakeley set up a successful collaborative art project highlighting mental health issues raising funds for Young Minds. Other activities were cooking for Food for Heroes, working in food packing factories, making scrubs and protective gear at school, at home and in the DT department, delivering food to foodbanks, gardening for others, helping the homeless on the streets in London, picking up prescriptions, helping the elderly and volunteering in shops.
During the Summer holidays and Michaelmas Term, there were activities that included a 400-mile bike ride for Thames Valley Air Ambulance, selling hair (Little Princess Trust), growing moustaches (Movember), a further long distance bike ride (Hugo Rutland Memorial Fund and the Down's Syndrome Support Group), prize draws (Luke's Fund and Ronald McDonald House Charities), The Poppy Appeal (Royal British Legion), Christmas Jumper Day (Shelter)
There were also a number of impressive activities raising funds for The Footsteps Foundation (which enables children with cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders to access the Footsteps therapy programme).
In the Lent term activities included; Lucas White baking for doctors and nurses in hospitals; Will Lowrie, Alex Atkinson and friends cycling from Lands’ End to John O’Groats fundraising for laptops for local schools; Sam Townsend and Harry Lyons not only running a marathon but also organising RCBC’s charity challenge to raise over £15,000 for Young Minds; two recent ORs, Archie Barrow and Tom Sweetnam, procuring an outstanding 3,000 England football kits for a charity, Kit4Kenya, that they set up whilst at Radley; Sam Pullen-Campbell and the SERV team who, in conjunction with St James' Church, regularly collected generous food donations and delivered them to the Abingdon Foodbanks and continue to do so monthly; Radley Football’s support for #Challenge45 to help raise funds for Sobell House; Radley Sports and Peter Bennett, along with Will Mordaunt, George O’Connor and Edward Parkes getting us motivated to support and fundraise for @OxfordHub in the Ready Set Go Challenge; and Cassandra Russell who ran 2 miles and did over 101 sit ups each day in February to raise funds for the NHS.
Fifth Form volunteering day The annual Fifth Form Charity/Service day, the fourth of its kind, took place during July 2020 and was based at the boys’ homes due to the school campus being closed due to Covid restrictions. As such, it embraced new global dimension. This took place on 2 July 2020 and involved 135 Fifth Form boys helping volunteer in local charities doing a range of activities for a whole day. It included boys delivering food to care homes, Ollie Broke-Smith and the E Social boys climbing the equivalent of Mount Everest (on their stairs) whilst raising funds for John Masefield House, food donations in Thailand, church cleaning, beach cleaning from Hong Kong to Cornwall, shopping for vulnerable local residents, re-roofing, litter picking, cooking and gardening in the local communities.
This term, the Fifth Form volunteering day will take place on 30th June 2021 and will involve the Fifth Form clearing litter, working with the Radley Village Community, along the banks of the river Thames.
International community partnership
Primary Schools Many of our links with local primary schools have been maintained during the challenge of restricted access. In some cases we have looked to provide support that does not involve actually going into a school, and we have also moved many activities online, including the launch of hugely popular primary schools music assemblies alongside the second year of our Radley STEPS programme. Our work has reached more than 40 primary schools, with over 1,000 children benefitting from the online content that has been produced by boys and staff.
There are 2 members of staff from the Radley College community who are governors at local primary schools and an additional 8 members of staff who are governors at local prep schools.
Independent Prep Schools
Art
Governance
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Website support
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Critical Thinking
Forest School
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Governance
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Art
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Website support
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Critical Thinking
Forest School
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Music Assemblies
State Primary Schools Radley Primary School Carswell Primary School Emmanuel Christian School Coombe C of E Primary School Unicorn School, Abingdon
Music Assemblies
Radley Primary School Carswell Primary School Emmanuel Christian School
Radley STEPS
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Radley STEPS
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Ashfold Moulsford Horris Hill Summer Fields Ludgrove Chandlings Caldicott
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We were delighted that we were able to continue support our local primary schools over the past year. An art project was introduced to the Foundation Stage Unit at Radley Primary School. A children’s homework activity based on drawing of their favourite illustrator was used by Radley art students to create a series of murals of characters, using machinery and tools from the Design workshop, to be displayed on buildings at the Radley Primary school. The aim of the project is to promote the joy of books and for the children to have pride in their artistic endeavours.
At Carswell Primary School, Abingdon a group of Radley boys taught Yr 5 students a self-conceived course of philosophy and critical thinking throughout the Lent Term. This was completed through weekly Zoom sessions. While at the Emmanuel Christian School, Littlemore a group of Radley students helped create resources of video films for the school website. Towards the end of the year, as schools reopened, Radley art department led by a group of A level students launched a Community Art Project, bringing together primary school from across Abingdon to decorate small model houses to be displayed at the Sewell Centre, Radley and across other locations in Abingdon.
Radley STEPS This is a new Academic Enrichment programme in partnership with nine primary schools in the Abingdon and Oxford area. Since June 2019, Harry Crump has met with the Heads of many local primary schools to seek their recommendations of pupils who are operating at greater depth in their core subjects and who would benefit from extension classes that build on their school learning to give them academic ‘stretch’. The STEPS class (which first gathered at Radley on January 18th 2020) is at capacity with 24 pupils (12 boys and 12 girls) planning to visit Radley on fourteen Saturdays during the course of 2020 (January to December); although summer term Saturdays were cancelled due to COVID-19.
Each morning they are here they attend three academic sessions before lunch, and always culminating in a visit to the Library; the children are members and the Library is stocked with copies of books from a reading list which they are working their way through during the year.
Their journey so far has seen them in the Biology Department with the of animals, the new Science Building creating insulators and pin-hole cameras, in the English Department writing creatively and studying logos and advertising, while participating in poetry seminars with Sixth Form boys, in the Drama Department, in the Classics Department studying the ancient world, in the Music Department writing and performing body percussion, in the Modern Languages Department speaking Mandarin, and in the Maths Department learning mathematical magic.
Choristership The Choristership programme has as its aim the musical education of local pupils in the choral tradition and the making of a wonderful choir. Choristers receive free instrumental tuition on two instruments, and specialist vocal coaching as a group and individuals. Radley currently has 24 choristers who sing in the choir and receive free music tuition. Radley offers boys between the ages of 6 and 13 who attend schools within easy reach the opportunity to sing treble in the chapel choir, alongside the older boys from the school, who sing the lower parts. Applications are welcome from any boy, from the state or independent sector (currently 16 are state educated from 24). Boys are selected after a simple interview, and a voice, ear and reading test. They also have the opportunity to sing a prepared piece if they wish. We run preparation sessions for boys in year 2, working on singing technique, simple sight-singing and repertoire. Other than these services, choristers sing at the three annual Carol Services, two Confirmation Services, the College Leavers’ Service, and at occasional concerts and special services. In addition, the choir regularly sings at cathedrals in the South of England and on foreign tours, giving the young choristers a wonderfully broad musical education. 12 choristers received subsidised places on the Radley College Music Department tour to Madrid in February 2020. During restrictions linked to Covid-19, rehearsals continued online. Every year recently we have had successful applications from choristers to come to the school aged 13 as music award holders, or all round award holders, often on large bursaries.
Primary School Music
‘Thank you for yesterday's music assembly. It was fun to have the warm-up and be active. How I wish we could have all the children at school to do similar activities with them and sing again!’ Headteacher, Sunningwell Primary School X
Secondary Schools Our work with secondary schools has further developed over the past year, with much of our collaboration moving online. The opportunities to involve more of our students in staff has enable sustained activities through which
EasyA Maths
Inspire Lectur e
Creativ e Writing
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Abingdo n Edge Coachin g
La Faim de Loup - French Gramma r
Governanac e
State Secondary Schools Desborough College Broadway Academy
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Newman Catholic College
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Larkmead School
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Fitzharry's
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John Masons
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Independent Senior Schools Shiplake College
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St Helens & St Katherine's Abingdon School
Desborough College Creative writing Inspire Lectures Teacher CPD – staff drop-ins Governance
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Broadway Academy
OX14 Learning Partnerhsip Le faim de loup Abingdon Edge
“Prospective GCSE French students joined an after school online session run by A-Level French students from Radley College and Larkmead. It has just finished and I was honestly blown away with their enthusiasm and participation. The 6th formers were thrilled with them, and they were a credit to our school and themselves.” Head of MFL, Larkmead School
The Radley College Spanish department orgnaised a series of webinars on a variety of topics, literature and films covering the entire Spanish A-Level syllabus. In total 103 Spanish webinars were delivered by experts by top universities from around the world. These webinars were offered to students and teachers from the maintained sector. The webinars were all recorded and are posted online for teachers and students to view.
Thanks to you, there is a new library of invaluable recordings, a wealth of knowledge and new dialogues around our passion for literature and cinema. Lecturer in Spanish, Boston University
Over 1500 students have taken part; 239 schools directly benefited; people from 11 different countries were involved; 41 teachers from state schools in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru participated; the speakers involved were from 67 different universities and the recordings of the webinars have been downloaded around 8,000 times so far.
‘I know my students appreciate the sessions, each session has been informative and thought provoking. I know these webinars will help them to develop their analytical and critical skills and support them in producing high quality responses to essay and speaking questions.’ MFL Curriculum Leaders, George Stephenson High School, Newcastle Upon Tyne
EasyA Maths support Broadway Academy Newman Catholic College
Springforward
‘It has been great to collaborate with other schools on such interesting and current subjects. The process has been enhanced by different perspectives people offer.’ Yr 12 Abingdon Edge Student
‘I am delighted at the opportunity, and would like to further improve on the engagement already witnessed.’ Head of Maths, Newman Catholic College, Brent
Sporting activities and use of college facilities
Astro Pitches Abingdon primary school gala Abingdon Youth
Athletics Track
Swimming Pool
Sports Hall
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Kennington Dolphins Swimming Club
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Mixed Martial Arts
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Oxford Dive Centre
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Oxfordshire Badminton Club
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Radley Primary School Radley Youth
Gym
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Hinksey Sculling School
Oxford United in the community
Rowing Tank
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Friends of Wooton Swimming Club
Kennington Youth
Boat House
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Unicorn School
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White Horse Harriers Athletics' Club
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Witney Atletics Club
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International Partnerships Huruma Slum, Nairobi (Kenya) 9 Fifth Formers have been mentoring pupils in Huruma, a slum area of Nairobi, via Skype, participating in the Edclub Movement founded by Marlborough College, helping them in subjects like Maths, English and Science. This innovative project is inspired by Prof. Sugata Mitra’s award winning ‘TED talk’ which highlighted the power of computers in transforming educational achievement in the developing world. For 45 minutes a week (excluding preparation), our boys prompt a group of children to explore educational issues via carefully chosen questions and advice. At both ends of the dedicated computer link, the participants benefit hugely from the engagement, which is also great fun! This is the sixth year we have done the project as part of our CAP. IMPACT: Through working with Radley, the children were able to increase their knowledge about the world, broadening their prospects for the future.
Bursaries & Scholarships Through bursaries and scholarships, Radley College has committed £2,404,695 this year in help with fees and additional costs. The large majority of this funding is applied towards means-tested bursaries. This amount is stated prior to additional hardships awards as a result of the covid-19 pandemic and prior to a 30% fee discount offered to all Radley parents for Summer Term 2020.
The above awards varied in value between 0% of fees (i.e. honorary), 5% of fees and 10% of fees. All awards may be supplemented by a means tested bursary in case of need. The aim of this is that any boys who win a Scholarship or Exhibition should be able to attend Radley College.
Letter writing to Oxford Beaumont Care Community during COVID restrictions when visits were not allowed.
Countryside Centre (CAP) A group of boys helped build an outdoor wooden structure to be used as an air rifle shooting range which may be made available to outside groups in future. Speed camera in Radley Village
In addition, most CAP teams’ work was online between Sept-March (e.g. skyping African schoolchildren, Emmanuel Christian School), which enabled reduced emissions annually.