INTRODUCING THE FIRST LANCING COLLEGE IMPACT REPORT

There can be no more important time for Independent Schools to talk about their impact, the contribution they make to their local communities and to society more broadly. We are proud to introduce Lancing College’s first Impact Report for 2022 – of which you can read the introduction here. Please head to our website where you can read the report in full.

As the first Woodard School, we were founded in August 1848 with a mission to reach out and transform lives. Lancing has 175 years of history in which the College community has been engaging with the local, regional, national and – more recently – international community. Woodard and its schools provide a significant benefit to the public. However, like many schools, we have focussed in the past on getting on with it rather than talking more openly about our activities. If our contribution is to be judged fairly this needs to change. Thus, in publishing our first Impact Report we are making a commitment to all those who are connected to us to be visible and accountable for our contributions in their broadest sense.

Lancing was one of the founding dozen schools of HMC and plays a leading part in the independent schools’ sector. Recent research commissioned by The Independent Schools Council, ISC (which represents 1371 of the country’s largest independent schools) and undertaken by Oxford Economics, has for the first time calculated our collective and individual economic impact. Across the nation, this includes £14.1 billion contribution to the UK economy *, £5.1 billion in annual tax revenues, £4.4 billion in annual savings to the taxpayer and 282,000 jobs. This equates to employment across a city the size of Liverpool. Extrapolating from this research we calculate that Lancing College contributes £20.1 million in GDP within the Adur Local Authority area and makes savings of £6.3 million to the UK taxpayer as a result of pupils attending Lancing who would otherwise take up a free UK state school place.

Impact is more than an economic calculation. Our students go out into the world with a drive to contribute to society and to be a force for good. This is integral to our ethos, and is, indeed, part of our foundation. Public benefit is central to our vision: we aim to educate young people to develop a love of learning and to reach their full potential. We prepare young men and women of vision and integrity who will be of service to their fellow human beings.

Our Impact Aims

• Widen opportunities for children and families without the necessary resources to benefit from a Lancing education

• Play our role in increasing social mobility where the circumstances of birth do not determine outcomes in life

• Give pupils chances to realise the importance of contributing to the community, both inside the College and beyond

• Work together with local maintained sector junior and secondary schools

• Share our incredible buildings and facilities with the wider community

• Care for our environment and build a sustainable Lancing College

• Ensure that local businesses are prioritised within the College supply-chain.

In our coming 175th Anniversary Year we look forward to welcoming the wider community to our amazing site and to sharing the celebration of our past and our intentions for the future.