St Albans School Foundation: A Passport to Education

An education at St Albans School can be the key that unlocks the potential in bright young people from all walks of life.

Giving to St Albans is about safeguarding the School’s future and opening the door to academic, cultural, sporting and social opportunities which will have a life-long impact on each and every one of our pupils.

Passports to Education The St Albans School Foundation has raised over £1.3m in donations from OAs and parents since its launch in 2008.

It is already having a significant impact both on day‑to‑day life for pupils and staff, and on the School’s long‑term future.

Means-tested Bursaries allow bright and motivated young people to take up their offer of a place at the School, when families would be unable to afford the fees.

Capital Projects Funds support the ambitious programme of building projects and refurbishments which are preserving our historic buildings and transforming the School site to befit a top‑class, twenty-first century education.

Hardship Funds support students who may otherwise have been forced to leave the School part-way through their time here due to changes in family circumstances, and also provide students receiving 100% bursary funding with extra support towards the cost of trips, uniform and sports kit, books and even School meals where required.

Special Projects Funds support small projects in individual departments to purchase high-quality equipment or software to enhance learning, but which would be otherwise unaffordable from the department’s annual budget.

Your support of the St Albans School Foundation will continue to help us realise the full potential of our pupils, now and in the years to come.

A Supporter’s Perspective “I was the beneficiary of an education made possible by the generosity of others. I do not know the identities of many of those who, in effect, considered my education to be a good investment. I cannot say thank you to them.

An education is not something that you pay back, it is something you pay forward to future generations. I did that at Cambridge, where I funded new facilities for mathematicians, theoretical physicists, astronomers, astrophysicists, and a new court for student accommodation at St. Johns College. I provided matching funds for a program to create endowed student bursaries to facilitate the admission of talented students in financial need. These are all ways of paying forward and investing in future generations.

St Albans School has a long track record of providing a first rate education, and can make the case that it has been a good steward of its past benefactors’ investments, in other words, the School is a great way to pass the gift forward. I use the word investment deliberately.

Fees cover the daily operating expenses of the School, while donations, aka investments, provide the facilities, infrastructure, and endowment which enable the fulfilment of the School’s mission.

I can only speak to my own motivations for passing forward the gift of a great education, but my reasons for philanthropy may resonate with others, and they too will see the School as a way to invest meaningfully in future generations.”

Nick Corfield (OA 1977)

How your support makes a difference The Foundation funds a range of projects around School departments which would otherwise be unaffordable from the department’s annual budget.

This year, these projects have included fume cupboards and equipment for the Chemistry Department.

Bursaries & hardship funds

The Foundation has received donations of over £300,000 towards the Bursary Fund.

“During primary School my parents always said I could be a high achiever, but it wasn’t until I came here that I believed it, when the teachers really knew what I needed, and helped me to embrace the things I’m good at”.

Chris Putman, now studying at Oxford University (Bursary Student 2006-2013)

“The School was so welcoming to any ambitions I wanted to follow, and instilled an ethos in me – if you want to do something, just do it.”

Jon Croker, Screenwriter (Bursary Student 1992-1999)

Art Department

The Foundation has purchased a Printing Press for the Art Department.

Religious Studies Department

This year the Foundation has purchased an interactive whiteboard for a new classroom in the RS Department.

Realising Potential The offer of a place at St Albans School and the opportunities it provides can have a life-long impact. In his memoirs of School life in the 1950s, Prof. Graham Parry summed up the impact of his time here.

“Looking back I realise I received an extremely good education at St Albans, much of it without my noticing. Many of the opportunities that the School offered I did not take. I was never much good at games. I did not shine in the Corps. I didn’t get involved in the plays that were put on every year (as I could never remember the lines, and had no desire to perform on stage); I didn’t want to join the choir.

It was only in the Fifth Form that I really began to wake up and understand what the School was able to do for me. And in the Sixth Form, I caught fire, and burnt brightly enough to gain a prize that the School valued highly; a place at Cambridge.

I made a few friendships that have lasted all my life, and I have always been proud to have been educated at St Albans School. The high quality of teaching I received, and the power of the historic and architectural settings in which my education took place, have been enduring influences in my life and my career.

Whatever support you can give to help realise the potential of our pupils will have a life-long impact.

It is enormously appreciated.

In retrospect, I have much to be grateful for, and I hope that my recollections not only bring back the atmosphere of the 1950s but also show what a transforming effect a good education can have on one’s youthful self.”

Professor Graham Parry (OA 1957) Extract from ‘A Memoir of St Albans School’ which is available to download via the Foundation section of the School website.

Guaranteeing a Bright Future Supporting your School with a donation or a regular gift, whatever the amount, helps us to make a real difference to our pupils, both now and in the years to come. Especially valued are gifts that allow us the flexibility to allocate funds where they are most urgently needed.

MAKING A REGULAR GIFT Your ongoing support counts for a great deal and enables the School to plan ahead, budget for projects, and to offer full 7-year bursary places with greater confidence. You can arrange a regular gift to St Albans by standing order.

SINGLE GIFTS Every gift makes a difference and is greatly appreciated. You can make your donation by credit or debit card, or by cheque made out to St Albans School Foundation.

A GIFT IN YOUR WILL

Thank you for your generosity

Many former pupils have found that remembering the School in their will has enabled them to pledge a significant contribution which they would be unable to make during their lifetime. A legacy pledge of any size enrols you to the Foundation’s ‘Gateway Society’, please ask the Development Office for more details.

Please contact: Kate Le Sueur & Kate Gray Development Directors Tel: 01727 515 178 E-mail: development@st-albans.herts.sch.uk

St Albans School Foundation The Gift of Education www.st-albans.herts.sch.uk/Foundation St Albans School Registered Charity No. 1092932