A New Charity for Bolton School’s Bursary Funds

2022 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Bolton School Foundation's bursary scheme. In that quarter of a century, the School’s bursary scheme has enabled over 2,000 young people to receive a first-class education here that they would otherwise have been unable to access, before going out into the world to make a difference for good.

School's supporters to the Bursary Fund are ring-fenced for that purpose in the decades to come. The primary charitable purpose of BSBF is to provide bursary funding to the School, and its charitable objectives, in line with the School’s ethos outlined by Lord Leverhulme, are ‘the advancement of education for the public benefit of those who need financial assistance in particular but not exclusively by the provision to Bolton School of bursary support for the benefit of pupils who would be unable to continue in education at the School or who would be unable to commence education at the School despite being accepted, without financial assistance.’

Bolton School now offers bursary support to one in every five of its Senior School pupils, many of whom attend with a fully-funded place, meaning the School has one of the most generous bursary schemes in the UK. The growth of the School's bursary scheme to its current level has only been made possible through the generosity of the School community, particularly its Alumni, and a number of local and national philanthropists and charitable trusts.

In the past ten years, the School's benefactors – many of whom themselves benefited from a funded place here - have generously donated almost £11m to the School in support of the continued expansion of its bursary scheme. Each of those supporters shares the School's ambition to level-up the educational opportunities available to disadvantaged children in Bolton and the local area, so that every young person living locally can reach their true potential, regardless of their family's circumstances.

It is the Governors' objective that, by 2030, one in three pupils at the School should receive bursary funding for their education. If that ambition is to be achieved, then the future growth of the bursary funds available to support pupils at the School must be maximised. In pursuit of that goal, and marking the next exciting phase of the School's fundraising endeavours, in 2022 Bolton School's Governing Body established a new Charitable Incorporated Organisation – The Bolton School Bursary Foundation (BSBF) – which will raise, hold and grant the School’s bursary funds in the future.

By establishing BSBF, the Governing Body seeks to ensure that the funds already given so generously by the

Reflecting on the new charity, Ian Riley, Chair of Bolton School’s Governing Body, said: “During the past two decades, the School’s Bursary Fund has benefited hugely from the generosity of Alumni who wish to ensure that the ladder of social mobility remains in good repair for the next generation of pupils at the School. In establishing BSBF, the Governing Body is seeking to provide our donors with assurance that their gifts will only be used for their intended purpose – namely, the provision of bursary places at Bolton School.”

BSBF will be Chaired by Old Boy John Craven (Class of 1982), who also serves on the School’s Governing Body. He is joined by five other trustees – Suve Banerjee, Andrew Palmer and Ian Riley (all current Governors of the School), and Michael Griffiths (Former Chairman of the Bolton School Governing Body) and Nigel Wightman (former member of Bolton School’s Investment Committee).