The Garwood Foundation

09/12/2025

Thank you to Crystal Palace Football Club fans for supporting our Space to Thrive appeal and having us along for a bucket collection recently. Every little bit of fundraising gets us closer to completing building works at Rutherford School for our students with complex disabilities and we're really grateful for your support.

Every ability shines
Building skills and confidence in everything we do, our focus is on what those in our care can achieve. We are a progressive and inclusive charity enabling people living with disabilities to live the fullest lives they can with a school, day centre, and residential home in Croydon.
We Listen. We Care. We Celebrate.
Follow The Garwood Foundation to see us shine with your support.

08/12/2025

Some of our students from Rutherford School started the Christmas season by attending the Croydon Schools' Music Association Festive Concert last week. Students and staff really enjoyed the singing, dancing, music, and drama all to celebrate Christmas, Diwali and Hanukkah. It was a lovely morning spent with other schools in our local community. Thank you Croydon Music and Arts for having us and sharing such a great celebration.

Every ability shines
Building skills and confidence in everything we do, our focus is on what those in our care can achieve. We are a progressive and inclusive charity enabling people living with disabilities to live the fullest lives they can with a school, day centre, and residential home in Croydon.
We Listen. We Care. We Celebrate.
Follow The Garwood Foundation to see us shine with your support.

03/12/2025

Shout out to Unity Support Riders for making sure the toy run that ends at Rutherford School's Christmas Fair is safe, fun, and unforgettable 💚

Join us 1-3pm on 13th December at Rutherford School for all the fun and festivities - especially when the Phoenix Motorcycle Training Ltd toy run arrives!

Every ability shines
Building skills and confidence in everything we do, our focus is on what those in our care can achieve. We are a progressive and inclusive charity enabling people living with disabilities to live the fullest lives they can with a school, day centre, and residential home in Croydon.
We Listen. We Care. We Celebrate.
Follow The Garwood Foundation to see us shine with your support.

02/12/2025

"On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me"... A brilliant video of Bramley Hill participants enjoying OrchLab!
Supporting music-making with disabled adults, OrchLab is run by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in partnership with Drake Music. Participants at our Bramley Hill Day Centre have been enjoying a series of OrchLab workshops and accessible instruments to make parts of this musical story with Shaftesbury's Brookside House.
Watch and enjoy: https://orchlab.org/orclab-film-2025-a-story/

Every ability shines
Building skills and confidence in everything we do, our focus is on what those in our care can achieve. We are a progressive and inclusive charity enabling people living with disabilities to live the fullest lives they can with a school, day centre, and residential home in Croydon.
We Listen. We Care. We Celebrate.
Follow The Garwood Foundation to see us shine with your support.

In Autumn 2025, OrchLab worked with groups from Bramley Hill Day Centre (Garwood Foundation) and Brookside House (Shaftesbury) on a project inspired by a piece called En Saga by Jean Sibelius Sibelius (1865-1957) was a Finnish composer who often wrote music inspired by the beautiful scenery in Finla...

01/12/2025

Calling all supporters! Could you supply a raffle prize please? Preparations are well under way for our annual Christmas Fair on 13th December (1-3pm if you're planning to join us for all the fun and festivities!)
All proceeds from the fair will contribute to our Space to Thrive appeal completing an extra classroom, new hydrotherapy pool, and accessible community meeting space at Rutherford School.
We're short a few raffle prizes and would very much appreciate your help in finding some. Please contact us if you can help! Send a DM or email rutherford@rutherfordschool.org.uk - Thank you so much.

Every ability shines
Building skills and confidence in everything we do, our focus is on what those in our care can achieve. We are a progressive and inclusive charity enabling people living with disabilities to live the fullest lives they can with a school, day centre, and residential home in Croydon.
We Listen. We Care. We Celebrate.
Follow The Garwood Foundation to see us shine with your support.

27/11/2025

We really did put a garden on top of our swimming pool... In this month's build progress at Rutherford School our living roof was installed alongside the air source heat pump and sky lights. Below it, on the inside, the hydrotherapy pool was being tiled.

We can't quite believe it's been a year since we started the works as time has flown and so has the progress. We've got about six months of build work left and to raise the last funds we need to complete it. We're in the final stretch raising £30,000. Please consider making a donation to support our students with disabilities to get the space to thrive they deserve.

Our Space to Thrive will provide a new hydrotherapy pool, additional classroom and accessible meeting space for students with complex disabilities and our local community - and you can be part of it!
Donate to build a Space to Thrive today: https://garwoodfoundation.org.uk/donate

Every ability shines
Building skills and confidence in everything we do, our focus is on what those in our care can achieve. We are a progressive and inclusive charity enabling people living with disabilities to live the fullest lives they can with a school, day centre, and residential home in Croydon.
We Listen. We Care. We Celebrate.
Follow The Garwood Foundation to see us shine with your support.

26/11/2025

"We tried our wet suits for a lake swim. Too difficult by far we found. So we braced ourselves to brave it with our cossies and a light Lycra jacket. All went well. And we managed to do it without being the last. A very happy ending and a real sense of achievement."

Mary Saunders, 74 years young and a birthday the day before, swam Serpentine 2025 in aid of Garwood's Space to Thrive appeal and loved every minute. You can be part of Team Garwood for 2026. Sign up now: https://garwoodfoundation.org.uk/swim-serpentine

Every ability shines
Building skills and confidence in everything we do, our focus is on what those in our care can achieve. We are a progressive and inclusive charity enabling people living with disabilities to live the fullest lives they can with a school, day centre, and residential home in Croydon.
We Listen. We Care. We Celebrate.
Follow The Garwood Foundation to see us shine with your support.

21/11/2025

We're looking for someone with hands on skills and experience to join our team at Rutherford School in South Croydon as our Caretaker. We've extended the applications so please do share this anyone local you think would be a good fit, or might know someone that is.
To apply email a CV and cover letter to human.resources@garwoodfoundation.org.uk. Applications will be reviewed as they arrive.
Full job description is on our website here: https://garwoodfoundation.org.uk/jobs-careers

Every ability shines
Building skills and confidence in everything we do, our focus is on what those in our care can achieve. We are a progressive and inclusive charity enabling people living with disabilities to live the fullest lives they can with a school, day centre, and residential home in Croydon.
We Listen. We Care. We Celebrate.
Follow The Garwood Foundation to see us shine with your support.

20/11/2025

Come and join us at our Christmas Fair on 13th December at Rutherford School! A hidden gem for handmade gifts, with festive games, amazing raffle, and tasty food and drinks. All proceeds raised go to completing our Space to Thrive.

We'll also be joined by Phoenix Motorcycle Training Ltd Club on their 11th annual toy drive supporting Rutherford School. It's quite the spectacle with both riders and bikes dressed for the occasion. Don't miss out!

Every ability shines
Building skills and confidence in everything we do, our focus is on what those in our care can achieve. We are a progressive and inclusive charity enabling people living with disabilities to live the fullest lives they can with a school, day centre, and residential home in Croydon.
We Listen. We Care. We Celebrate.
Follow The Garwood Foundation to see us shine with your support.

18/11/2025

"And it was all yellow..." In the words of a very cool song, back in October it really was all yellow at Rutherford for the YoungMinds Hello Yellow annual event to support young people's mental health.

Not only did our students raise £145 for Young Minds with their cake sale, staff lucky dip, and wearing yellow clothes, but we carried out some lovely inclusive collaborative sessions. We made yellow art, enjoyed sensory stories, and all came together for enrichment speaking about what we do to look after our mental health. Wellbeing and mental health are a core part of our curriculum but it's great to have a charity event and awareness day like this to celebrate it some more.

Every ability shines
Building skills and confidence in everything we do, our focus is on what those in our care can achieve. We are a progressive and inclusive charity enabling people living with disabilities to live the fullest lives they can with a school, day centre, and residential home in Croydon.
We Listen. We Care. We Celebrate.
Follow The Garwood Foundation to see us shine with your support.

04/11/2025

Building works update from Rutherford School: In this instalment of timelapse footage of our build an enclosure to protect our air source heat pump is built and cladded. There is also a lot of internal work happening to complete the inside. You may recall from earlier timelapse footage that after the foundations, the new hydrotherapy pool was one of the first things that was built, so this is already inside the main structure you see here. Internal work to the pool area, accessible changing rooms and toilets has been happening this month. In next month's instalment, we'll be able to bring you some photos of that too.

This is a really ambitious project that has been four years in the planning. Of a total £2.5m, we're fundraising in the last stages raising the last few thousand pounds to complete the works. Any fundraising makes a difference to our target - and ultimately to our students that will use the new facilities. Not only that, but the members of our community who will also use the facilities in the evenings and on weekends for injury or post operative rehabilitation too.

We're keen to support all community fundraising for our Space to Thrive appeal, so if you've got a fundraising idea, want to do a challenge event, host a cake sale, quiz, or any other fundraising activity, we're here for you. Send us a message if you want help getting your Space to Thrive fundraising off the ground.

Every ability shines
Building skills and confidence in everything we do, our focus is on what those in our care can achieve. We are a progressive and inclusive charity enabling people living with disabilities to live the fullest lives they can with a school, day centre, and residential home in Croydon.
We Listen. We Care. We Celebrate.
Follow The Garwood Foundation to see us shine with your support.