King’s was delighted to launch our new bursary campaign on Tuesday 10th October at the Mansion House in London, hosted by The Lord Mayor and The Lady Mayoress, Alderman Nicholas and Mrs Felicity Lyons (both former OKS Presidents and Junior and Senior King’s parents).

This event marked the beginning of a long and ambitious fundraising campaign which aims to increase the King’s endowment fund to £50million by the 500th anniversary of the School’s Charter, thereafter permanently providing 50 deserving pupils with full fees bursaries. This ambition reflects the original School mission of being able to support the education of deserving children, regardless of their family circumstances, and preserves the ethos of inclusivity marked by our first 50 King’s scholars in 1541. The launch of these awards means that, by 2041, 5% of our pupil body will be receiving a free education. These awards will not only provide life changing opportunities for the recipients, but further enrich the educational experiences of all our pupils.

On the evening of the launch, we were joined in the Old Ballroom by almost 180 friends of the School including many OKS, parents, governors, past parents and staff, as well as our Captain of School, Liza and Vice-Captain, Minty. Also in attendance were the Dean of Canterbury, The Very Reverend Dr David Monteith, and the Bishop of Dover, The Rt Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin.

The welcome speech by The Lord Mayor was followed by an introduction to the awards by the Head of the King’s School, Jude Lowson, who reflected “It is my goal that these bursaries will reinforce the inclusive and aspirational nature of King’s, where success is a product of ability, belief, hard work, determination, and not of social or economic background, and where the ambitions of our pupils are limitless”. Ali Henderson, CEO of the Royal National Children’s Springboard Foundation, working with King’s on this initiative, explained the impact these bursaries have on overcoming challenging circumstances and addressing social mobility in some of the UK’s poorest communities, and how they can be transformative in helping children and young people to redefine their futures. In her speech, Ali said “We are delighted to be working in partnership with The King’s School, Canterbury to ensure that many more children facing challenging circumstances can access the life-transformative opportunities that an education at King’s provides.” The final speech came from OKS Jake Werth, who received a bursary from King’s and has gone on to achieve his ambition of training to be a commercial lawyer, something he reflects he would never have been able to achieve without the support he was given.

To all those who have already pledged their support to this campaign, we are enormously grateful. Whilst our ambition to raise £50 million is an epic and long-term one, every single contribution moves us closer to this, and with wide participation from all parts of the King’s community, we can not only reach this goal and potentially reach it sooner, but we can start to provide more bursaries and support for children who stand to gain immeasurably from the generosity of our community.

Please visit www.kings-school.co.uk/supportus. Alternatively, please do get in touch with Jenny on j.grant@kings-school.co.uk or Bryony on b.dutta@kings-school.co.uk who will be delighted to chat with you.

“A bursary allows you to dream about being someone different. It’s the idea that the sky is the limit, or not even the limit.”  Annabel, King’s Bursary Recipient 2005 – 2010.