The Charter Awards
50 full bursaries, by our 500th anniversary, forever

50 full bursaries, by our 500th anniversary, forever
Since the Royal Charter of 1541 and the arrival of the first 50 King’s Scholars, it has remained part of our mission to support the education of deserving children, regardless of their backgrounds. We have seen first-hand how this support transforms the lives of gifted and motivated young people and their families. A more diverse student body also has a profoundly positive effect on the sort of people all of our pupils become – broadening their outlook, better preparing them for life beyond King’s and motivating them to achieve more.
Honouring our past, we now look to make a bold step-change to achieve our strategic ambitions of becoming more resilient, more relevant and more open.
50 Scholars, by our 500th anniversary, forever.
The Charter Awards is our progressive new campaign to increase the King’s endowment fund to a sufficient level to provide permanent funding for 50 full, means-tested bursary places at our school.
The Awards will transform King’s, not just for now but forever. It will mean that, by 2041, 5% of our pupil body will be receiving a free education. We will award these life-changing bursaries to talented children who would most benefit from an education here but for whom King’s is currently wholly out of reach. This could be due to financial barriers, family circumstances or other challenges beyond their control.
The Awards will be offered in addition to the extensive support already provided by the school through our partial bursaries and scholarships programme.
My life and career would have been very different if I hadn’t received a full bursary. It gave me the strength and ability to take charge of my future. What I found at King’s was an environment that afforded students the opportunity to be interested in anything and to pursue those interests regardless of the rigid criteria of ‘success’ I had previously known.
— CHARLOTTE KING’S BURSARY RECIPIENT, 2011-2013Increase the number of full bursary places to 50 by 2041
50 5% £50m £3m
50 5% £50m £3m
Increase the number of full bursary places to 50 by 2041
5% of the pupil body will receive a full bursary
5% of the pupil body will receive a full bursary
Fund 50 King’s Scholars forever by increasing the King’s endowment to £50m
Fund 50 King’s Scholars forever by increasing the King’s endowment to £50m
Education can change lives, open doors to new experiences and put young people on different paths, helping them to achieve more than they thought possible.
That is why I am so delighted that we are launching this campaign. It will see us able to permanently support 50 full bursaries through our endowment, 500 years after the first 50 Scholars were admitted to the school. It is my goal that these bursaries reinforce the inclusive and aspirational nature of King’s,
Launch the Awards by raising £3m in the first 3 years
Launch the Awards by raising £3m in the first 3 years
where success is a product of ability, belief, hard work, determination, and not of social or economic background, and where the ambitions of our pupils are limitless.
To all those who have already supported bursaries and the Charter Awards, thank you. Your support means so much to us and to the pupils that we help. If you are yet to commit, please join us in our mission to transform more lives than ever before.
If I didn’t go to King’s, I would not have been able to pursue the variety of university and creative paths that I have gone down since. It was completely life changing. Without donations, it would be impossible for someone like me, who doesn’t have the means but certainly has the desire, the determination and the ability to do well in an environment like this.
— JACOB KING’S BURSARY RECIPIENT, 2013-2015To launch the Charter Awards campaign, it is our goal to raise £3m in the next 3 years. This will increase our endowment fund to £7m by 2026, and support the first cohort of Charter Awards recipients on their transformational journey.
Please join us in unlocking potential, promoting diversity and supporting more children who have the ability and determination to have their lives transformed by a King’s education. Donations of all values are gratefully received and will, quite literally change lives.
WHAT
£1,000,000
£300,000 £15,000
£100,000 £5,000
£30,000 plus Gift Aid£1,875
£30,000 £1,500
£10,000 plus Gift Aid £600
£1,000 plus Gift Aid£62.50
Support 1 fully funded boarding place for an exceptional pupil currently living in challenging circumstances
Cover a fully funded boarding place for 1 term, for a pupil with no family history of further education
Enable a Charter Awardee to join their classmates on curriculum-focused school trips and excursions
Remove barriers by enabling the purchase of essential provisions for academic study, such as a laptop and schoolbooks
Allow a talented athlete to fully take part in our sports programmes, covering pre-season coaching, tours and kits
Cover the costs of the school uniform or fund a term’s worth of music lessons and instrument hire for a musically gifted pupil
Pay the transport costs for a pupil to travel to and from their home for academic holidays
At King’s, I was privileged enough to meet a huge variety of people from all walks of life and learn things about cultures I would have never been able to visit with my financial means. I look forward to graduating from University this summer and seeing what the future holds. I am very grateful for the role that the school played in this.
— KORBEN KING’S BURSARY RECIPIENT, 2014-2019
£50 million is an epic goal but small, regular donations, collectively, make a huge difference. A sense of wide participation from across the King’s School Community is vitally important to the success of the Charter Awards.
If every OKS gave as little as £5 per week for 1 year with Gift Aid, we would raise nearly £3.6 million each year. This would fund 3.5 full bursary places for talented children, forever. Even if this was our only source of donations, we would achieve our campaign goal of 50 endowed places 7 years before our target!
If every parent donated £15 per month, with Gift Aid, for the 5 years their child is at King’s, we would fully fund an endowed boarding place at King’s for generations of talented boys and girls who could make the most of this opportunity.
It only takes 30 OKS each giving £15 per month for five years, after Gift Aid, to give the opportunity of fully funded music tuition for one pupil currently living in challenging circumstances, forever.
No gift to The Charter Awards is too small and we are honoured to receive single or regular donations of any size. In thanks for your generosity, we will be delighted to keep you informed of the impact your gift is making – however large or modest it may be – and show how your support is, quite literally changing lives.
Donations can be made online by visiting kings-school.co.uk/supportus, by sending a cheque made payable to The King’s School Canterbury, or by scanning the QR code on the left of this page.
By remembering the Charter Awards in your will, you will continue a tradition of making a lasting generational impact and transform the education of bright and motivated young people.
Whether you have decided to leave a gift in your will or would like more information about legacy giving, we would love to hear from you.
Jenny Grant, Director of Development and Alumni
Tel: 01227 595623 or 07554 115254
Email: j.grant@kings-school.co.uk
Bryony Dutta, Head of Philanthropy
Tel: 07483 170489
Email: b.dutta@kings-school.co.uk
King’s is one of those places that is just magic. It really does feel like you have something special. I’m so grateful for the donations that enabled me to come to King’s and the life that it has given me.
— ANNABEL KING’S BURSARY RECIPIENT, 2005-2010