Doing their bit Canford

The school has been commended for its charitable activities, which include, impressively, sponsorship of The Bourne Academy in Bournemouth, fundraising and teaching at schools in India, Ghana and Argentina, taking part in the national SHINE programme, visits to local hospices, charity shops and the elderly, swimming lessons for local children, learning sign language and providing activities for children in inner-city Southampton

Eton College

Each week, more than 200 boys visit hospitals and individuals as part of the Community Service. The school provides in-kind support to the Poor’s Estate of Eton

Harrow

It runs 150-plus projects with local schools. The last set of accounts shows 86 pupils benefiting from more than £2 million of bursaries in one year

Repton

Sixth-form pupils choose a weekly activity, such as recycling, gardening, litterpicking, helping in primary schools and visiting the elderly. Repton is linked to schools in Ghana, for which it raises funds and where pupils go to teach English

St Mary’s Calne

It has a mentoring programme with Springfields, a local school for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, and sponsors the Calne Food Bank, among other charitable enterprises. Pupils join in with community activities, such as planting flowers for Calne in Bloom

Westminster

All pupils are encouraged to participate in volunteering and sixth-formers can train in sign language or teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL). Some £40,000 is raised each year through the Charity Forum. The school has several educational partnerships in this country, including with the Harris Westminster Sixth Form academy, as well as some in India, South Africa, Tunisia and Zambia

Woldingham

Each house selects a charity to support for the year, plus there’s a link with the Cardinal Hume Centre for the poor and marginalised and a community-outreach programme through which girls visit nursing homes and help primary-school children with reading

Wycombe Abbey

Girls make weekly visits to Cressex Community School to help with literacy and volunteer with numerous joint ventures and workshops with other schools. There’s a weekly Skype exchange with the first girls’ boarding school in Afghanistan