Life at Cliff is built around prayer and worship, as well as studying, eating and living together as a community. Whether you come to Cliff for a few days or for a few years, you’ll find people you can share life and faith with here.
Rhythms of community life
Cliff College has a pattern and rhythm to community life that shapes the way we spend our time together each day, week, term and year.
Each weekday morning, everyone is invited to join us for morning prayers, either onsite from the College Chapel or online via social media. Whether you are a part of our resident community, a visiting student, staff member or a visitor, you are welcome to join us for prayer. Mid-morning on weekdays, the College community pauses for a coffee break which provides an opportunity to chat, enjoy fellowship, make plans, hear announcements and, on some days, eat cake together.
The time between coffee and lunch is given to community building. This may include a focus on faith and formation; time spent serving our community or preparing worship, an opportunity to build life skills or getting out and about together. We are creatively experimenting with onsite and online community building, and strive to ensure that all feel valued, included and supported.
Our weekly community meal and worship service happen on Wednesdays during term-time. The community meal, served in our dining hall, is an open invitation to all students, staff and their families. The worship service timing varies according to our teaching timetable. Each week it is either uploaded at 6.15pm or live-streamed at 6.15pm for the wider Cliff community. Our worship forms the heart of our community of faith and provides both an opportunity to hear God’s word preached and also for members of the community to explore their own giftings in leading music, testimony sharing and preaching. We hear teaching from the Bible, sing praises and pray, endeavouring to draw closer to God and one another through our time together.
In addition to these structured patterns, the Cliff College community offers a mixture of student-led and College-organised activities including walks, trips, board games nights, music and drama, crafts, pub quizzes and film evenings. Each year is different as it shaped by those within the community. The College provides a number of comfortable seating areas and a well resourced common room for residents and visiting students.
At the beginning and end of term we organise College-wide events such as a Christmas cabaret, summer socials, walks and meals together.
At Cliff you have the opportunity to be part of a community that you can participate and serve in, which in turn, really feeds and teaches you. I’ve benefited so much with having friends and brothers and sisters in Christ right on my doorstep to do life with.
Leah, former student
Getting out and about
The local area is full of opportunities for outdoor activities. The Peak District is famous for its amazing walks and challenging climbing locations. We are local to the wonderful outdoor swimming pool at Hathersage and we have a few folk who enjoy wild swimming. The Chatsworth Estate is just up the road and is a beautiful place for a wander and coffee as well as being the seat of so much history. Nearby coffee shops, cafés and pubs are perfect for catching up with visiting friends and family or as a very good reason to get off site!
As well as Chatsworth House, nearby tourist attractions include Haddon Hall and the historic town of Bakewell. Chesterfield (20 minutes away) and Sheffield (30 minutes away) are great spots for shopping, cinema trips and nights out, as well as for activities like indoor climbing and theatre shows.
Staff and students are part of a wide variety of churches, including local churches in Calver, Curbar and Eyam, and larger churches in Sheffield and Chesterfield. There are a range of ways you can connect in with local groups, sometimes as part of your Mission Placement. There will also be ongoing missional opportunities to engage with people in life-changing ways.
Student President
As Cliff's student community is relatively small, everyone is encouraged to play an active part in community life, whether you live on campus at the College, or are based in context. Our student president for 2025/26, Treasure Simpson, lives on campus and is the first point of call for students. Treasure's role is to represent the student body. She works alongside our Community Warden and Student Welfare Manager to create a community where people can form meaningful Christian relationships as they live, worship, eat and study together.
