ISSUE 2 | NOVEMBER 2013
FUNDRAISINGNEWS
The SpringBoard Bursary Foundation Every now and again the stars align themselves and good things happen. I am the first CEO of the recently founded SpringBoard Bursary Foundation. I arrived at SpringBoard from beautiful mid Devon, where I was the Head Master of Blundell’s School, having previously been a housemaster at Radley College and before that a derivatives trader and analyst for a large American investment bank. A strange but interesting career path, but to quote Alice (as in Wonderland) “if you don’t explore, you will never discover”, I fully believe this outlook on life came from my school days. I benefitted from a bursary which allowed me to attend a boarding school which subsequently transformed my life. It gave me the confidence to explore my enthusiasms and interests; there is a rabbinical saying, “there are two gifts we can give our children, the first is roots and the second is wings”, this is what my boarding school did for me. The SpringBoard Bursary Foundation’s objective is to give life transforming opportunities to pupils from difficult and disadvantaged backgrounds who would best benefit from a boarding experience. There are two unique features to us; the first is that we only work with pupils who have been recommended to us from
mentoring charities and secondly the boarding schools are accredited by us to ensure that they have given real thought to the extra level of pastoral care which may be necessary to ensure pupils from different backgrounds get the best out of their school experience. What have we found so far? Well, thirty pupils began in September at a range of boarding schools; Rugby, upon whom we are based, Oundle, Eton, Marlborough, Lord Wandsworth College, King Edward’s Witley and Wellington Academy among others have been the pioneering schools. The latter is a state boarding school and we will be expanding this area in years to come, because we are about excellent boarding environments and they certainly qualify. So far, of our thirty, three pupils have already been elected to their school councils by their peers, one is the lead in the school play, a good number have taken up interests not formerly developed and all have said they are enjoying the extra level of academic intensity. In addition we surveyed well over a hundred existing bursary pupils about what they found most difficult in moving to a boarding school but also what they find most appealing. The results have informed our training and our accreditation process as well as giving
us real confidence that we are making a profound difference to many lives and communities. Ninety eight per cent said they were delighted with and grateful for the opportunity. The vast majority expressed the view that moving between home and school was not a significant issue. Indeed, they felt that in making this decision they had inspired others in their community to raise their aspirations, thus we can be sure that our effect is wider than the effect on the individual pupil. This is important to us. We already have evidence that school communities are changing as they develop greater understanding of the wider complexities that some face. These schools are richer because of this diversity. We are on track to introduce another fifty pupils to boarding school life by this time next year. I am of course grateful to the stars but more so to the many schools who have taken a deep interest in our work and also the many community leaders, all of them living saints, who have been so enthusiastic in recommending pupils. Ian Davenport SpringBoard Chief Executive
BURSARY AMBASSADORS The Bursary Scheme at Arnold House is a young one and we, as Bursary Ambassadors, are finding our feet as an organisation. Recently we have redesigned our role to better assist in most of what the programme is trying to achieve: planning events, raising funds and enhancing awareness and understanding of what the Bursary Scheme offers to the School, our boys and those in the programme. Something we are also starting to focus on is spreading the word on the availability of Arnold House bursaries to
friends, neighbours and acquaintances who might know a boy who would make a good candidate for a bursary place. We have our work cut out in the years ahead, not least in establishing an endowment to ensure the strength of the bursary programme into the future. Undoubtedly, you will be contacted by Bursary Ambassadors in your class in the weeks and months ahead, whether to participate as an entertainer in the Bursary Cabaret evening in the spring, to donate an item to one of the
auctions or to support the cause in some other helpful way. Please let us know if you would like to join the Bursary Ambassadors in our effort to set an agenda for the years to come. The commitment is not overwhelming (around four meetings per year) and good ideas are very welcome. Juliet Sampson (current parent) Chair of the Bursary Ambassadors
The total raised for the Bursary Fund during the academic year 2012-2013 was £93,400 of which £60,000 was raised at the Bursary Quiz evening in March. BURSARY CABARET EVENING The Board of Friends and Bursary Ambassadors are currently organising a ‘Bursary Cabaret’ in aid of the Bursary Fund. This event will take place at the American School of London. More information and the date will be available shortly. In the meantime, we are looking for parents and old boys with hidden talents who may like to perform at the event, as well as interesting items for a silent auction. Please contact Stephanie Miller for more information. (smiller@arnoldhouse.co.uk or 020 7266 6989).
Arnold House School
BURSARY
Date TBC
An evening of entertainment presented by the parents of Arnold House including a live and silent auction in aid of the Bursary Fund.
£30
pp
including dinner and drinks
Please contact Stephanie Miller at: smiller@arnoldhouse.co.uk or phone 020 7266 6989 to purchase tickets.
BURSARY UPDATE Embarking on a path to establish a secure and lasting Bursary Scheme at Arnold House has been a bold undertaking. When, in 2008, the governors made the necessary leap of faith to want our prep school to emulate the great public schools such as City of London, Eton, Rugby and St. Paul’s in providing bursary places, it was understood that a great deal of hard work lay ahead of us. Five years on what are the key things we have learnt? • You may be surprised to find that in a city the size of London we have yet to have more than a handful of candidates each year – the word needs to spread, as Juliet Sampson, the Chair of the Bursary Ambassadors, suggests elsewhere in this newsletter. • There is so much more to offering a bursary place than covering the school fees and putting a boy in his distinctive red blazer. Considerable time and effort needs to be spent preparing for a boy’s arrival, involving contributions from the Bursar, Registrar, senior and pastoral members of the teaching staff, and the Parents’ Association. Our systems are now fine-tuned to
ANNUAL FUND The Annual Fund 2013 has been a success with the majority of items from the list being funded. These have included an Oscilliscope and three digital balances for the Science Lab, two new trombones for the Music Department, a video camera and tripod for the Library, and full funding for an ‘artist in residence’ for 2015. The appeal for a new Steinway K Piano continues. The piano will be used for assemblies, orchestra practices, musical concerts and junior school plays. An individual key can be acquired for £284 and may be dedicated to the donor. If you would like to purchase a key (or even an octave!) please contact Stephanie Miller at smiller@arnoldhouse.co.uk The School is most grateful to those parents and old boys who have supported these projects which directly enhance our facilities available for teaching and learning.
help a boy and his family settle-in quickly to Arnold House and enjoy all that we have to offer. • From the beginning, current and former parents, old boys and friends of the School have shown a real appetite for this venture to succeed. • Finding the senior school that will be the best-fit for an AH boy in his teenage years is of paramount importance to us, bursary boys included. Rugby and Mill Hill have offered bursary places in the past years and it is encouraging that City of London School will broaden the destinations list still further in September 2014.
So the Bursary Scheme at Arnold House is still very much a work in progress and will be for many years to come. We can consider ourselves pioneers in this field in the prep school world and the achievements of our bursary boys to date should give us renewed enthusiasm. To take from Churchill’s lexicon, we have reached the ‘end of the beginning’ and we should know in another five years whether the Bursary Scheme has become part of the School’s DNA. Viv Thomas Headmaster
CHARITY During the past year, we have continued to support a number of worthy causes through various activities and events at the School, raising a total of £8,860. Locally, we have raised £2,990 for the St John’s Hospice from a Superheroes themed charity day and the annual Chapel Choir Concert in the Chapel of St John and St Elizabeth’s hospital. The international charity chosen by the
boys was the Landirani Trust based in Malawi. £4,700 was raised for them which will go towards building a new block for educational use. A further £1,180 was raised for national charities including the Poppy Appeal, Marie Curie, the Life Boats and Fr Rob Wickham’s parish in Hackney. This academic year, the boys have chosen to support internationally renowned charity ActionAid. In
addition, this term, we have been supporting old boys Luke Birch and Jamie Sparks (1998-2005) as they prepare to become the youngest team to row the Atlantic. £2,900 has already been raised for their chosen charity, Breast Cancer Care, following a Nautical Themed charity day in October. Arnold House are one of the sponsors and you can follow their progress at www.2boysinaboat.com
HOW TO DONATE Donations can made by cheque or bank transfer directly to Arnold House School or alternatively online at www.arnoldhouse.co.uk/development/donateonline Please contact Stephanie Miller for more information (smiller@arnoldhouse.co.uk or 020 7266 6989). Your support is greatly appreciated.
Arnold House School 1 Loudoun Road St. John’s Wood, London NW8 0LH Telephone: 020 7266 4840 Email: office@arnoldhouse.co.uk Website: www.arnoldhouse.co.uk Arnold House School Ltd (Limited by Guarantee). Registered in London Number 889424. Educational Charitable Trust Number 312725