The annual ‘Volunteering Week’ at the College provides our students with a great opportunity to try out volunteering and to help out in the local community. The event also seeks to promote the benefits of volunteering to a wider audience. At the end of last year, between the 1st September and 31st December 2014, our students had already contributed 2499 hours to volunteering with local charities, schools and other organisations.

Katy Marlow, our Community Engagement and Event Coordinator at the College and organiser of this year’s ‘Volunteering Week’ commented, “The College is dedicated to giving back to the local community - last year our students volunteered for more than 22,000 hours, which is just phenomenal!”

This year’s exciting week focused particularly on working with our neighbouring schools and developing stronger links between our organisations.

The week started with a story-telling hour at Pebble Day Nursery. Student Bethany Loveless who read to the children said, “I had a really great time and very much enjoyed reading to them.”

Throughout the week, students Barnabas Balint, Ella Flood, Marie Keep and Robyn Salt visited Grange Infant School to collaborate with their pupils on the, ‘Where we live and work' Art Project. First year student, Robyn Salt said, “It’s really lovely to be able to pass on what we've learnt at Farnborough to these younger students. We've been able to teach them different ways to blend paint and use brush techniques”, with fellow AS student Ella Flood adding, “It was fascinating to see how the children tackled the task and to watch how they worked out how to do things.”

Tuesday saw our Student Association members meeting pupils from Cherrywood Community Primary School who are involved in the MoreAble Project. The event gave the local school pupils the chance to find out first-hand what it is like to study at the College through the form of a question and answer session.

Raheem Mirza, our Student Association Sports Officer said, "The morning proved to be a lot of fun, with the children from Cherrywood School putting us through an intensive interview about life at Farnborough Sixth. Not only did they learn a lot about how much Farnborough goes against the common perception of college, but we also reminded ourselves of how lucky we are to be in such a warm-hearted College."

Frances Gregory, Inclusion Manager at Cherrywood School commented, “The children were struck by the warm and friendly welcome from the students at the College. They took our questions seriously and gave us a real insight in to what studying at the College is like. The children also enjoyed the tour - they were very impressed by the John Guy Building and the art work on display. I am sure they will study even harder at school now so that they can have the opportunity to study at the College in the future.”

Thursday was our Volunteering Fayre, which was a chance for students to speak to a wide variety of local organisations and sign up for volunteering opportunities. Exhibitors included Samaritans, Mustard Seed Autism Trust, The Vine Day Centre and many more, all of whom were offering students the chance to give back to the community. Students and staff were also encouraged to donate their unwanted clothes at our Clothing Drive, with all donations going to North Town and the Church of the Good Shepherd Clothing Exchanges.

The week ended on a high with a Disney-inspired performance from students from the College and Henry Tyndale School who are involved with the Coppers Award scheme. Read about, 'The Disney Adventure' presented by Coppers Award here.