Unlocking Potential: Information for parents of bursary boys

Background Over the last decade, we have worked hard to widen access to our School, quadrupling our financial commitment to means-tested bursaries and increasing the number of boys receiving support by 92%, since 2008.

In 2019/20, we joined the top 7% of ISC independent schools in terms of expenditure on bursaries - spending over £1m on our bursary programme. Over 175 schools are now represented at the RGS and nearly 40% of pupils join us from the state sector.

This has been possible as a result of the generosity of the RGS community. Sadly, in some years, we have more bursary need than funds available and are forced to turn boys away.

Bursary Support In 2020/21, 68 boys across the RGS (7%) are in receipt of means-tested bursaries.

This is equivalent to 1 in 15 boys. Their support ranges from 10% to 100%, with nearly two thirds receiving what we call transformational support, ie 80% fee assistance or higher.

Most of the bursaries we offer are Entrance Bursaries, offered at the beginning of a boy’s School career, but we also reserve a small fund for emergency fee support, available on a temporary basis, to families facing a crisis like serious illness or redundancy.

We do not receive any government support for bursaries. All our bursaries are funded by the School, the RGS community and trusts and foundations.

How Bursaries are funded Each year, the School sets aside 5% of fee income for the RGS Bursary Programme and fundraising activities. The Development & Alumni Office is responsible for raising funds from the RGS community. All fundraising at the RGS is for bursaries, reflecting the School’s commitment to widening access to our School and ensuring that the brightest boys have the opportunity to attend the RGS, irrespective of their financial circumstances.

RGS Community Support The RGS community has become increasingly engaged with our Bursary Programme and Widening Access activities. As a result of our Twenty for 2020 Campaign to create 20 transformational bursaries, over 1000 alumni (Old Guildfordians), parents and staff (past and present) are now funding 19 transformational bursaries – up from less than six just five years ago.

The School’s long-term ambition is that we achieve full merit-based open access.

This means that we hope to be a school where every boy who earns his place is able to take it up. We believe this will take a generation to achieve and see approximately one in five of our boys receiving some sort of financial support.

Everyone in the RGS community has the opportunity to get involved with our Pass it On activities, from offering monthly or annual financial support to sharing experiences of why bursaries matter, in order to help attract future supporters.

Amongst our 19 bursaries funded directly by the RGS community, we currently award ten named bursary awards. All are currently held by boys in the School and offered for the entire length of a pupil’s RGS career:

The Ian and Kate El-Mokadem Bursary

Ian is an old boy (Old Guildfordian) of the School. He left in 1986. He and his wife Kate are the School’s first King’s Benefactors, which means they are supporting one boy with a full bursary.

They have two children. Of their decision to give, Ian says, “Kate and I believe that access to a great education should not be linked to financial circumstances. I am delighted to be able to support a talented young man as he starts his exciting RGS journey.”

The Beckingham Bursary

The Beckingham Bursary is funded anonymously by some existing parents.

Delighted with the experience of their son at RGS, they wanted to ensure that another boy could benefit.

The Class of ’87 Bursary

27 Old Guildfordians from the Class of 1987 have clubbed together to fund a transformational bursary. They are the first year group to do this and, we hope, the first of many. Of this bursary, one of the OGs says, “I benefited enormously from my time at the RGS and had the privilege of being part of a great year group that is still going strong. I want to help others to have the same opportunity.”

The Collins Educational Trust Bursaries

Currently supporting five bursaries, the Collins family have been involved with the RGS for over 100 years.

Roy Collins, OG 1941 set up the Trust in 2001, inspired by the belief that bursaries should be a partnership between benefactor, School and family – a philosophy that inspires all the School’s bursaries. You can see the first Collins Educational Trust Bursary recipient, Harry Laughland OG 2008, talking about why bursaries matter to him on our RGS Guildford YouTube page, alongside a number of other films created for our 2019 and 2020 Giving Days: www.youtube.com/user/RGSGuilford/

The Acworth Foundation Bursaries Brian Acworth was evacuated from Britain to the USA in 1940 and – as a result of the generosity of others – was able to attend first-class schools in the US. His trust supports students in Schools around the world and two sixth-form bursaries at the RGS. A founding principle of the Foundation was that, “The education of the most gifted individuals will yield the greatest benefits to society as a whole as well as the individual recipient, the other students… and generally the school attended.”

You can find out more about all our Pass it On activities at

www.rgs-pass-it-on.co.uk

A partnership of parents, School and the RGS community working together to ensure that the brightest boys can access our School, irrespective of their family circumstances.

PAUL LANDLESS OG 1996 & School Captain

I was so lucky to be surrounded by such inspiring teachers and a peer group of real characters at RGS including life-long friends (and wedding ushers). The place grew me as a person and helped set me sail on a path in life filled with opportunities from difficult family beginnings. My journey would have been very, very different but for the RGS. I hope I can express my gratitude and help change someone else’s life with this.

How you can help The experience of bursary boys and their successes is the most powerful way to encourage people to support the RGS Bursary Programme. We approach all our Bursary families to seek their consent for the Development & Alumni Relations Office to contact them. We do not ask our bursary families for financial support, instead we ask them to share their experiences, thoughts and successes.

Look out for your opportunity to help other bright local boys access an RGS education, or contact Monica Popa, Development Director on RGSFoundation@rgsg.co.uk / 01483 887143.