A message from the Rector ‘
Diversity is our strength.
BELONG
’
At the start of the new academic year, reflecting on the many demands that have been placed on young people and their families and the resilience they have shown during the pandemic, I believe that there is no more appropriate time to launch our new bursary appeal - the Challenge 180 Campaign. We are a central landmark in the Glasgow educational landscape, and have been since 1641. Key to the Hutchie ethos is a commitment to being a school for young people of talent and potential from any background, anywhere in the city, and beyond. That diversity is our strength, as every child brings their own unique experiences and skills to the school whilst being united in a desire to work hard and flourish. That is why we are determined to increase our bursary fund - to create more opportunities for pupils who may have the ability and drive, but not the means to realise their potential. To sustain this ethos needs your help, and in a way designed to be accessible to all alumni. If you feel you have benefited from a Hutchie education and would like to pay it forward to help the next generation, please do consider our Challenge. We are so grateful to those in our community who already donate - we hope that you may wish to join them.
youngsters to find their inner voice, to encourage excellence without ‘ Enabling arrogance, to promote a strong sense of social obligation, to foster resilience and show
a proper respect for the best of the past is a valid background to a better future, all in a highly cosmopolitan environment. That’s how I define the essence of the Hutchie ethos during my lifetime as pupil and teacher.
’
- Sandy Strang, Former Depute Rector and 1969 Dux
The Challenge 180 Campaign
We are challenging our alumni to help us build up the Hutchesons’ bursary fund by donating £6 a month, ideally for six years. We appreciate that times are tough right now so we are hoping that more of our former pupils will support the campaign if we keep the amount low - £6 is less than one large coffee and a cake. Since the turn of the Millennium the school has offered financial assistance to hundreds of children. This session one in six pupils currently enrolled at Beaton Road receives fee assistance. These bursaries have largely been possible due to the generosity of a number of former pupils via legacy or lump sum donations. But every year the school is forced to reject worthy bursary applications as the current level of donations and invested legacies does not meet the considerable demand.
With the launch of The Challenge 180 Campaign the school hopes to attract support from a greater number of former pupils who are prepared to ‘give a little to change a lot’. If 180 former pupils pledged to donate £6 a month, for six years, we could offer one child a transformational bursary. We also worked out that on average 1,500 pupils become former pupils every decade so we are hoping to encourage a little friendly rivalry to see which decade produces 180 pledges first, and thereafter how many children of limited means can reach their full potential.
‘
1 in 6 currently receive a bursary.
‘
Give a little to change a lot.
FLOURISH
’
’
The 180 Challenge Campaign ‘
180°, of course, also signifies a complete change in direction. We want to turn around more lives and create opportunity for pupils who might otherwise miss that vital chance of the great, rounded education that we believe we can offer.
Giving and giving
back is central to our ethos.
’
ACHIEVE
Want to help? You can sign up at https://www.hutchesons.org/donate/. Hutchesons’ continues to be one of the highest performing academic schools in the West of Scotland consistently achieving over 67% A Grades in the SQA Higher exams. However, we offer so much more than just academic success in order to develop confident and well-rounded young people. Our extensive extra-curricular programme allows pupils across the school to develop additional skills outside of the classroom. Giving and giving back is central to the Hutchesons’ ethos. This year our school community raised £85,000 for Glasgow-based charity Funding Neuro. We hope our former pupils will consider donating the cost of only one coffee and cake a month to help change a life.
The Bursary Recipient ‘
Dr Mike Gow, C1994, graduated from Glasgow University’s Dental School in 1999. Mike has a passion for helping people who have dental anxiety and phobia and is well known in this field. He is a director of the Berkeley Clinic in Glasgow and is married with four children, all of whom attend Hutchesons’. Mike also received financial assistance while a pupil at Beaton Road.
If you have or currently support the bursary or are just about to start…thank you! Whatever your monthly contribution, it can and will make a huge difference. In some ways however this difference can seem ‘invisible’. The kid whose family can’t afford a Hutchie blazer gets to have one. The kid whose family are struggling with fees can still come to school, learn and sit their exams. The kid who excels but whose family could never have afforded the fees, still gets to attend and benefit from the many opportunities offered by our great school.
’
The Bursary Donor PIC Here
Jack Silverstone, C1965 is a graduate of Strathclyde University where he studied Business and Administration, obtaining double honours in Accountancy & Commerce. Jack initially worked in the family business before moving into the financial services industry. He is now retired but maintains a keen interest in the school and is a proud supporter of the school’s bursary fund.
‘
As a former pupil, parent and latterly governor, I have had a long and continuing association with Hutchie. I am very proud of the education I and my children received, and have been a regular supporter of the school for many years. As a former governor, I know the difference a bursary can make and so I would encourage fellow members of our school community to get behind this new initiative and sign up to the Challenge 180, to help the next generation of Hutchie pupils achieve their full potential.
’