Community Service

Senior School

We feel it is important that students feel invested in their communities. which is why we offer Community Service in Years 10 and 11.

At the end of Year 9 students are given the choice to opt for a Community Service Activity to participate in for the following 2 years. Students in Years 12 and 13 often choose to continue their Community service option as the programmes are often popular and enjoyable, with students wanting to invest and give back some time to younger stuednts and others in our community:

  • CS – CCF – Army/RAF
  • CS – Digital Leaders
  • CS – Drama
  • CS – Eco Team
  • CS – Journalism
  • CS – Music
  • CS  – Music Technology
  • CS – Primary/Special Schools
  • CS – SEP (Sports Education Programme)

CS Music
Students joining our Community Service Music group take part in a number of engaging musical activities over the course of the year, including preparing short performances at local schools and care homes. Students also work with local primary schools running sessions on African Drumming, Keyboards and Ukulele – working with both small and large groups.  At the beginning of each term we plan our schedule for the weeks ahead, looking to share and develop musical skills.  It’s a great opportunity for Ipswich School Students to share their musical knowledge and passion with others.  

CS music is open to all students. Whilst it is useful to have some musical knowledge it isn’t essential.

CS Drama 
CS Drama creates and performs projects for the community around Ipswich School.  This year the students wrote and performed a Pantomime, which they then took into the surrounding primary schools. CS Drama is part of the ‘kissing it better’ project. This is an activity where the students visit the wards at Ipswich hospital and perform monologues, songs and poems to the patients. Within this project the students have had Dementia training as part of their development as performers. As well as the performances, we have a lot of fun in CS Drama, learning drama skills through games and improvisation and also encourage students to enter Drama festivals during the year. Last year we had students who won their categories. Future projects are to create Drama workshops and TIE performances to deliver to primary schools within Ipswich.

CS Digital Leaders

Digital Leaders is an activity designed for students to improve their digital skills and develop ideas and systems to share this knowledge within Ipswich School and our community. The main focus is concerning online safety and how to create a safer internet and digital space for all.

CS Primary Schools and Special Schools
This challenging and rewarding activity is an excellent opportunity to gain experience working with younger children. Students are placed in around 14 different local schools and mainly work with Key Stage 1 (Infants). Students work with small groups or with individuals, helping them with activities that their teacher has set. This will usually be a reading/writing task or some simple maths but sometimes, ICT, PE, Music or Art are timetabled. 

Some of the local schools involved include Castle Hill Infant School, Castle Hill Junior School, Dale Hall Community Primary School, Halifax Primary School, Handford Hall Primary School, Henley Primary School, Hillside Community Primary School, Ipswich Prep School, Sidegate Primary School, Springfield Infant School, Springfield Junior School, St Helen’s Primary School, St John’s CEVAP  School, St Margaret’s CofE Primary School, St Matthew’s CofE Primary School, Whitehouse Community Primary School and Whitton Primary School. 

CS CCF
The CCF is one of our most popular Thursday activities. Cadets join in Year 10, making a two year commitment with the option of continuing in the Sixth Form. Whether in the Army or the RAF section, they learn a range of military skills and participate in a variety of leadership and teamwork exercises. On our Field Days they have the opportunity to visit military bases, including opportunities for field craft, shooting and flying. Cadets are encouraged to take on responsibility as NCOs, organising activities and in the process, improving their self-confidence and their presentation skills.

Cadets from Ipswich School have distinguished themselves by winning gliding scholarships, inter-school competitions and generous university sponsorships. Significant numbers have gone on to join the Armed Services.

The aim of the CCF is to provide a disciplined organisation through which cadets may develop qualities of endurance, resourcefulness, self-reliance, leadership, responsibility and a sense of public service. The Service (military) training that we do is used as a framework through which these aims can be realised. We also invest a good deal of time on a considerable amount of “non-military” training, such as command tasks, leaderless tasks and adventurous training. Places are limited and attendance of the training days and at least one Army camp over two years are compulsory.

Allocations to Army or RAF are done “out of a cap” and preference cannot be requested.

CS Eco Team
The main aims are to understand, develop and protect the environment. Activities are many and varied.

In the garden, students grow herbs and vegetables, which are given away to local residential homes.

Material is collected to be composted from the school, like teabags and fruit cores; these are composted in our bins and wormery, before being dug into the soil to improve it. 

During the winter students do indoor craft projects such as bulb planting in handmade pots, building and repairing cold frames and raised beds and at Christmas make delicious shortbread to give away, flavoured with lavender from our herb garden. Money is also raised for our other projects by making and selling Christmas Crafts, Conservation projects in the Park and around school are also carried out and we are looking to extend this side of the activity.

We are passionate about improving re-cycling in school. We are launching a new project aiming to recycle items currently not collected by the local council.

Re-use is high on the agenda too and we are launching another new project: Up-cycling furniture which can be auctioned or sold through our online business.

The veg patch is at Westwood and there’s a conservation garden in school beyond the netball courts. Eco Team would appeal to anyone interested in environmental issues, gardening, craft, entrepreneurship, growing food and helping others. No prior knowledge is needed, but by the end of the year you will have learnt a lot!

CS SEP (Sports Education Programme)
The Sports Leaders is a two-year course run by the school. In Year 10, you will learn about leadership and the skills required to be an excellent sport leader. This includes planning, communication and motivation. You will practise your skills with your peers and with classes from the Prep School.

In Year 11, you are assigned each term to an adult sports coach where you are expected to help with their sessions for Year 7 and 8 pupils. This may involve running the warm ups, being in charge of equipment and officiating games. There is a high expectation of dress and behaviour in this group and is most suited to mature pupils who wish to help others. It is not necessary to be a high achieving games player and it is not
about personal activity.

This activity will appeal to anyone who enjoys working in a team and would like to develop the skills for coaching younger pupils.

CS Journalism
In the Journalism activity you will be a member of the team working on the school’s weekly newsletter, The Occasional. This involves mainly researching and writing stories about school activities and interviewing members of staff and pupils. You may also be able to take photos or draw illustrations for features. It’s a relaxed team, but there’s plenty of work to do each week, and is an ideal activity for you if you enjoy writing.

CS Music Technology
In CS Music Tech, you will work with other students, and staff, on the planning, rigging and running of productions. They will range from small shows in little school with minimal lighting and sound, to full scale whole school productions like our biennial musical. There are two main areas in stage crew and you are free to select which you will be primarily involved in. With the audio engineering side, you will learn skills that are widely applicable across live mixing and studio recording.

With the lighting side, you will learn about the many different types of lights available and what they are best used for, if you’ve ever been to a theatre and been amazed by the special effects used this will be the side for you.

The most important thing is that you are willing to get stuck in and give things a go, it’s good to pick up a bit of everything and it gives you a greater appreciation of what goes on behind the stage.