Community work brings recognition.

Solihull School has received official recognition for its outstanding service to the local community after being short-listed for a top national award.

The coeducational school for 7-18 year olds on Warwick Road was selected from hundreds of nominations from across the UK as a finalist in the fifth Independent Schools Awards.

Solihull is one of four fee-paying schools and the only from the West Midlands in the running for the prestigious Outstanding Community Initiative Award, the winner of which will be announced at the Nottingham Belfry Hotel in front of hundreds of guests on Thursday, November 13.

The school was commended for its ‘Community Begins at School’ campaign of 2013 that resulted in pupils raising almost £10,000 for community projects within one mile of its campus. The sum was part of a record-breaking £46,500 raised for local, national and international causes throughout the year.

Initiatives included supporting the building and maintenance of Solihull’s new Marie Curie Hospice, bringing children across the borough together musically through ‘Solihull Sings’, raising awareness of the community’s homeless, and working with Solihull Library to extend its local history resources. Rachel Hadley-Leonard, Solihull’s Head of Marketing, said: “Reaching the finals of the Independent Schools Awards is a tremendous honour for Solihull. The Awards not only recognise and showcase excellence but also enable us to provide a benchmark of achievement for the sector as a whole.”

The Independent Schools Awards are run by the publishers of Funding for Independent Schools Magazine, and more latterly in conjunction with the Times Educational Supplement.