Inspiring Minds

Latymer Upper have increased their bursary provision and celebrate the success of their Inspiring Minds campaign

At the start of this academic year it was exhilarating to know that 1 in 5 of our pupils are here on a bursary - that’s double what it was 10 years ago. Now, more than ever, our mission to provide an outstanding education for all academically able children, no matter their financial means, is a moral imperative. Last year’s report by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) indicated that the disadvantage gap has stopped closing for the first time in over a decade. Thankfully, due to the work of our Foundation over the years and the incredible generosity of our community, when the pandemic hit, we were able to increase the number of bursaries we offered. It makes me proud that our progress towards realising our ambition of 1 in 4 students on a bursary has not slowed and that by 2024 we will be one of the most socially inclusive independent schools in the UK.

Two alumni returned for our Inspiring Minds campaign event recently and reminded us all of the life-changing impact our bursaries have. Hadeel graduated this Summer with 2 A*s in Biology and Chemistry and 2 As in Maths and AS English and her brother, also a Latymerian, is now starting his fourth year of Medicine at Imperial. She said: “The School guided a single, disabled, Iraqiborn mother and her two children through an education system that wants to offer them a better life than the one they currently have; I prefer not to think of where me and my brother would be without our bursaries.”

Amir, is now a fourth year medical student at Jesus College, Cambridge and has been awarded an academic scholarship. He

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said: “My mum and I still vividly remember the day that I got accepted into Latymer, and whilst we knew back then that it would change my life, I never realised quite how life-changing it would be. A Latymer education is truly world class…and the vast wealth of teachers who always go the extra mile and the brilliant teaching facilities meant that my interest in science developed into a passion to learn more.”

Since 2004 over 70% of our bursary holders have gone on to Russell Group universities with increasing numbers now also accepting places at international universities, including Ivy League. Tianrun, was the first person to receive a Latymer Prep bursary, aged 7 and he has just realised his dream, achieving straight A*s in his A Levels and taking up a place at King’s College, Oxford to read Maths. His classmate Oyin, who joined us on a bursary as a shy young girl in Year 7, received offers not only from Cambridge to read Natural Sciences, but also Princeton and MIT, where she is one of only 140 international students in the world to be admitted.

Bursary applications are increasing and we are mindful that not every child can come to Latymer. Complimenting our bursary programme is our partnership and outreach activity, which involves nearly 250 local schools, charities and community groups and impacts more than 1,000 local children.

Attain is one of our six major school partnership programmes. We’ve completed the first phase of this catch-up programme and the feedback has been incredible - 80% of teachers saw an increase in their students’ academic ability; 100% saw increased student confidence; and 100% also saw an increase in their students’ overall readiness to be back in school after lockdown - and we’re about to launch Phase II, with double the number of primary and secondary schools hoping to take part.

During lockdown we tackled digital poverty with donations of hundreds of laptops and dongles to students when they most needed it; we opened the School up as a hub, a safe place for local children to come and study and be fed and we’re continuing to address the issue of ‘holiday hunger’ running holiday camps every holiday for local children to have the opportunity to take part in healthy outdoor activity and get fed.

Our commitment to providing the best educational opportunities for young people is shared by our whole community and that gives me hope and cause for optimism about better times ahead.

MR GOODHEW, Headmaster Latymer Upper School

TURN TO P47 to read about schools celebrating Black History Month