Truro School Foundation

TRURO SCHOOL

Foundation

In the midst of the Ukraine crisis, it’s only fit and proper that we turn our thoughts to the wellbeing of the Ukrainian people and the unimaginable conditions in which some of them are living. The press reports and images of mothers and children leaving their husbands to defend their country, whilst they travel and look for safety in different countries, will be difficult to forget.

I am sure that we are all keen to do our bit and support these people as best we can. In the area where I live, we are about to send off our third articulated lorry to Poland, from where the contents will be sent into Ukraine.

From a Foundation perspective, we are hoping that our move out of Covid restrictions will help to be able to draw together our alumni and enable some face-to-face events and meetings. Within our planning, Carla (Head of Marketing and Communications) and Amanda (Development and Alumni Relations Officer) are preparing for our annual events such as the Royal Cornwall Show in June, our Annual Reunion Dinner in October, and a London event where we look forward to bringing Old Truronians together after more than two years of postponements and cancellations.

GRAHAM HOOPER OLD TRURONIAN PARENT & CHAIRMAN OF TRURO SCHOOL FOUNDATION Throughout Covid, the Foundations’ trustees have had to meet over Teams or Zoom, like most of the rest of the working world, and we’ve very much missed getting together. Despite this, combined with a difficult financial background, we have fulfilled our financial commitment to the School in terms of bursaries and endeavoured to grow our assets.

We owe our trustees a great debt of gratitude for the commitment of their time and expertise in helping support the pupils who enjoy the benefit of a Truro School education. They are a great team of people to work with, and provide balance, perspective and challenge. Our ultimate aim is to help change children’s lives and, by doing that, to help make the School accessible and achievable to a wide range of potential candidates.

As a Foundation, we are also particularly grateful to Andy Johnson, who has created a new strategy at the School, and has given the Foundation a more defined platform to work from. This is important in respect of a separate identity for all involved – the School, trustees, beneficiaries and, most importantly, our donors. Ours is a relatively simple model – the more money we can raise, the more children we can help; easy in theory, much more difficult to implement in practice.

We are also grateful for the support of the team within the school, whose time and commitment ensures that every pound donated to the Foundation goes to the bursary beneficiaries.

Most importantly, a most sincere thanks to our donors, who have provided the means by which we can support so many pupils at the school.

Sadly, we are saying goodbye to two of our trustees: Helen Sullivan, who has been more than influential in developing our communications as well as being a Governor and trustee, and Nicky Pooley, who has helped to keep us on a straight financial path as part of our Financial Committee, as well as being a trustee. Thank you both very much for the part you’ve played in helping to change children’s lives.

Finally, if you can join us at one of our events, we’d be delighted to see you. Similarly, if you’d like to hear more about particular topics or events, please let us know. We are keen to engineer more connectivity between our alumni and to help ensure that you get the best out of your ongoing relationships as Old Truronians.