Our Community Partnerships
Contribute to your world. Responsibility, duty, and service are hallmarks of a Charterhouse education – they always have been.
Every day since 1611 our pupils and staff have lived their School motto: Deo Dante Dedi, ‘God having given, I gave’, emphasising their awareness and responsibility to contribute positively to society.
At Charterhouse, our commitment to meaningful community partnerships is central to who we are.
By building strong relationships with local schools, charities, and organisations, we create opportunities to listen, learn, and respond to the needs of the young people in our shared care. These connections foster mutual respect and a sense of shared purpose, ensuring that every young person is supported to thrive.
Our Community Partnerships Programme lies at the heart of school life. It brings pupils, staff and the wider Charterhouse family together in a shared mission to serve others. Through this work, we nurture open-mindedness, kindness and a strong sense of social responsibility.
We believe that education should inspire action. We encourage Carthusians to look outward, contribute generously, and make a difference locally, nationally and beyond.
Charterhouse is proud to be part of the local community, and we remain deeply committed to building partnerships that benefit all.
We are a proud member of the School Partnerships Alliance and The Royal National Children's Springboard Foundation.
School Partnerships
We work closely with local state and prep schools to extend learning beyond the classroom. These partnerships offer academic stretch, enrichment, and inspiration across a wide range of subjects. Charterhouse pupils play an active role too. Through peer mentoring, they gain new perspectives, build confidence, and form meaningful connections with younger pupils in the community.
Our partners can access over 30 bespoke workshops, led by our subject specialist teachers. Each session is tailored to suit the needs of the pupils involved, from a dramatic science demonstration, an art masterclass, or an immersive history project, there’s something for every school. We also host carousel days for local primary schools, where children can explore drama, music, science and sport in a lively, hands-on format.
Many of our staff also serve as Governors in local schools, sharing their expertise and deepening our commitment to educational partnership.
Pupil Volunteering Electives
During the first year of our Sixth Form, pupils will have the option to join our volunteering electives programme, where they give an hour and half each week to serving in the local community. Charterhouse has strong local links with primary schools and during this time our students develop leadership, communication and teamwork skills as they deliver educational opportunities to local primary schools in the area of literacy, numeracy, drama, sport and music. Our pupils devise and deliver the content with the support of teachers, which helps foster an awareness for the needs of others. Pupils often reflect that this is one of the most significant and powerful activities that they are involved with during their time at Charterhouse.
Working with partner schools broadens horizons on all sides, it inspires fresh ideas, builds lasting relationships, and strengthens our own community while making a real difference beyond Charterhouse.
SAM COOKE, ASSISTANT HEAD, COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
Continuing Teacher Training
A range of CPD conferences are hosted at the School each year, aiming to provide ongoing development and training around important issues affecting our sector.
Charterhouse is also home to a range of teacher training programmes, including courses to provide non-specialist teachers from the state sector with a grounding in academic physics, building the foundations on which to undertake their own physics lessons.
As a certified School Centred Initial Teacher Training Centre, we aim to start teachers on a lifelong journey and equip them with the skills, knowledge and resilience needed to become the best teachers they can possibly be.
Charterhouse Charities
The Charities Committee is one of Charterhouse’s largest pupil-led societies, raising tens of thousands of pounds for voluntary organisations throughout the year.
All Carthusians take part in charitable activities throughout each year of their studies. A vibrant programme of pupil-led fundraising initiatives raises incredible sums in support of local charities. These funds can be transformative for the charities benefiting, as well as being hugely positive for our pupils, who are able to see the impact that their efforts can have.
Many pupils also volunteer huge amounts of their time in support of local charities and community organisations, often as a part of their International Baccalaureate CAS and Duke of Edinburgh Award programmes.
Transformative Bursaries
Bursaries provide life-changing opportunities, help to raise standards across the School through an infusion of bright young talent, and ensure all of our pupils benefit from studying and living in a diverse and dynamic community.
When Thomas Sutton founded the School in 1611, he made provision for forty scholars to receive a free education funded by the endowment he created. Today, the School is committed to maintaining those principles through bursary provision to provide more places for incredibly able children from diverse backgrounds.
The Charterhouse, London
In 1611, Thomas Sutton bought The Charterhouse, a former Carthusian monastery in London, and established the foundation that now bears his name. Thomas Sutton’s will made provision for the establishment of Charterhouse School and also an almshouse for a community of residents known as 'Brothers'
In 1872 the School moved to Godalming and the Brothers remained at The Charterhouse.
The association between the School and the London Charterhouse has continued to this day, with representative ‘observers’ sitting on each Governing Board. The annual provision of financial support to Charterhouse School is delivered based on an agreed historical calculation and is used to provide bursaries to pupils in need.
The School and The Charterhouse in London continue to enjoy a close relationship, with the Charterhouse hosting an annual Founder’s Day service and dinner for the School to commemorate Thomas Sutton. Pupils regularly come to The Charterhouse for educational visits.
