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King Edward's wins national fundraising award

16 November 2011

Last week King Edward's School won the Independent School Award for Outstanding Fundraising Initiative for its innovative and hugely successful Assisted Places fundraising Campaign.

The award was picked up by John Claughton, Chief Master of King Edward's School, at the awards ceremony held at the National Motorcycle Museum outside Birmingham.  Roger Black, the British Olympics athlete and TV personality, was on hand to present the award.  The school was also nominated for the Independent School of the Year award.

John Claughton said "I am immensely proud to receive this award.  Increasing the number of bursaries through our Assisted Places fundraising is absolutely crucial to maintaining the accessibility to our school.  I would like to thank all the donors who are making such a difference to the lives of so many able boys".

The Assisted Places Campaign aims to dramatically increase the number of bursaries that are available at King Edward's School for able pupils who would otherwise be unable to afford the fees.  £2 million has now been raised for the Campaign over the past two years.  The fundraising achievements during that time have included the most successful telephone fundraising campaign run by a school - over £300,000 was raised in just three weeks - and an innovative scheme whereby donors can fund bursaries for individual boys - a programme which attracted local and national press coverage.  The school also recently secured a gift of £2.5 million from an anonymous donor for a new modern languages department, part of an ongoing £25 building programme. 

Thanks to the success of the fundraising this year there are 35 boys in the bottom year on an Assisted Place which represents one quarter of the year.  This proportion of bursaries is one of the highest of any independent school in the country.  A similar number of Assisted Places will be available for those applying for entry in September 2012.  The deadline for applications is 6th December.