Community
Christ’s Hospital and the Community
Sharing opportunities. Making a difference.
Christ’s Hospital has a long-standing tradition of service and outreach. We are proud to share our exceptional facilities, time and talents with the local and wider community through a rich calendar of events and programmes.
Each year, we welcome thousands of visitors — from concertgoers and schoolchildren to charity partners and local residents — ensuring that our resources enrich lives beyond our campus.
Connecting Through Events and Activities
We host a diverse range of public events, including:
- Weekly lunchtime concerts
- Termly student theatre and music productions
- Historic guided tours
- Community lunches
We also offer regular educational experiences for visiting schools, such as:
- Science days and Maths challenges
- Performing arts workshops
- Theatre productions for primary schools
- Creative writing days
- An annual Choral Day, which in 2025 welcomed over 220 Year 5 pupils
A Culture of Volunteering
Our Community Action Programme, established in 1987, sees over 100 students volunteering weekly in various settings — including schools, museums, care homes and charity shops.
It’s a meaningful part of life at Christ’s Hospital, helping students grow in empathy, leadership, and social responsibility.
Choral Society
The Choral Society is a mixed adult choir of about 100 voices, open to anybody from the Horsham area who enjoys singing. The Choral Society has a lot of fun but tackles challenging music. We rehearse on Tuesday evenings at Christ’s Hospital during term time from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. The choir holds no auditions, but expects members to be able to sing in tune, and to take music away to practice between rehearsals.
The Community Action Programme
Over 200 senior students (Years 10–13) voluntarily participate in the Community Action programme each week. More than 30 different placements are organised on a weekly basis throughout the academic year including nursery schools, primary schools, special needs schools, residential homes for the elderly, hospices and charity shops as well as a Ready and Able Sports Club and a lunch club, which take place at Christ’s Hospital.
Primary Schools
Christ’s Hospital organises a range of events, each term for primary schools to attend, these events cover a wide selection of subjects and topics and are an ideal opportunity for primary school children to visit Christ’s Hospital.
Our annual events include Year 5 and Year 6 Maths Challenges, a Solving Crime with Science Day, Choral Day, Music workshops, Drama events plus Poetry days. These events allow us to welcome over 1800 primary school children to Christ’s Hospital each year.
Lunch Club
A Lunch Club for the elderly was established at Christ’s Hospital in 1991. Today the Lunch Club continues and each term between 50 to 70 elderly people, some with disabilities, who live in Horsham and the surrounding villages come to the school for a few hours and to have lunch.
It is just one of the many activities which forms part of the Christ’s Hospital Community Action programme which has been running for over 30 years.
Verrio Tour
A Verrio Tour is an opportunity to visit Christ’s Hospital and enjoy an historic guided tour of the buildings and grounds. The tour takes its name from the wonderful painting by Antonio Verrio which hangs in the School’s dining hall.
Christ’s Hospital is one of the oldest boarding schools in England. In 1552 the young King Edward VI responded to an impassioned sermon on the needs of London’s poor, following which he wrote to the Lord Mayor of London, to set in motion charitable measures to help.
For further information and to book a tour please call the Christ’s Hospital museum on 01403 247444 or email: chmuseum@christs-hospital.org.uk
Weekly Concert
A concert takes place at Christ’s Hospital once a week on a Thursday during term time from 2.00pm – 2.30pm. These concerts give our students the opportunity to present a short music recital to a small audience.
Admission is free to Friends of CH Arts and CH parents and light refreshments are provided, for a small donation, from 1.30pm.
Order our prospectus
Our School Prospectus provides an introduction to life at Christ’s Hospital. You can request a printed copy which includes an application form by completing the form and/or you can download a pdf of the prospectus.
