Brentwood School – The Foundation

31st March 2021

With its proud history of providing education to families from all backgrounds, Brentwood School's ethos is prominent in the 1622 School Statutes "The said Schoolmaster shall receive any scholar and him shall teach and instruct in vertue, learning and manners freely without anything taking therefore by any way or means other than is aforesaid." Virtue, Learning and Manners, the school's motto, originated from this. Headmaster of 1891-1914, Dr Edwin Bean said that "the children of judges and those of mechanics and tradesmen should mix on equal terms".

Since this has been in mind from the 16^th century, it's clear to see the importance of this to the school throughout time and this is evident in how the school keeps this alive through the years.

Many former students benefitted from County Scholarships, Direct Grant and Assisted Places in the 20th century and since state support ended in 1997, the school has allocated a portion of income (spending just over the 10% target in 2020/21 year) on funding bursaries, many of them transformational, with 14 current pupils benefitting. The results have been, and continue to be, both astounding and rewarding.

However, each year talented children who pass the entrance exams and whose families need fee assistance are turned away because of the limit of what the school can afford to allocate to this bursary funding; that's why the Foundation was established. The Foundation aims to raise money to increase the number of bursary places offered (on top of what the school funds) and this is already proving to be beneficial.

The first foundation funded student, Sila, joined Brentwood Lower Sixth in September 2020. Prior to this, Sila acquired 11 GCSEs from her previous school and Sila says "I'm extremely grateful to have been given such a unique opportunity to study at Brentwood. It's such a privilege to be the first recipient of the bursary."

Sila has already become involved with many co-curricular activities and has joined Public Speaking Club, Law Society, Journalism Society and Shooting Club to name but a few!

After her time at Brentwood, Sila plans to study History at University and is aiming for entry into Oxford.

The school's long term vision is to ensure no successful applicant in the Brentwood School Entrance Examination is prevented by financial reasons from taking up a place. While fundraising events are held by the school, there is still a long way to go to allow more students like Sila to meet their aspirations.

Find out more about how you can get involved and make a donation: https://www.brentwoodschool.co.uk/our-community/foundation