Latymer Upper School is no ordinary independent school. It prides itself on being one of Britain’s leading bursary schools, with the majority of its means tested bursary pupils studying at Latymer on a completely free place.

The plan is to go further – to offer a life-changing education to more children who show ability and potential, regardless of their financial circumstances. To this end, Latymer launched Inspiring Minds in September, the School’s most ambitious bursary campaign to date. The aim of the campaign is to raise enough funds to be able to offer 1 in 4 pupils a means tested bursary to Latymer by 2024 – its governing foundation’s 400th anniversary. The campaign is the most effective way in which our institution can encourage social mobility, with the goal of offering 300 local children from disadvantaged backgrounds a transformative education.

When David Goodhew took the reins as Head at Latymer in 2012, he had a clear vision of making his school more inclusive. A pioneering voice in a sector that is rightly under scrutiny, he is passionate about making independent schools engines of, rather than obstacles to, social mobility. The £40m that the Inspiring Minds bursary campaign aims to raise is needed for the long-term funding of bursaries. Unlike some public schools which have large endowments, or independent schools with city gilds to fund their bursaries, Latymer has no such resource and has to raise the money needed from scratch. We aim to replenish Edward Latymer’s endowment fund with £20m of the money raised, protecting our bursary provision for the long term future – benefiting children for generations to come. The balance will be a bursary cash fund which will give us flexibility to meet immediate need.

Bursary provision is not the only way in which Latymer is keen to raise the aspirations of young people. With over 50 partnership programmes with local state maintained primary and secondary schools and charitable organisations, the ISC [Independent School Council] reports that our partnership schemes impact around 1000 state school children each year. One new partnership is with Kensington Aldridge Academy: after the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire when the Academy was forced to close for repairs, David reached out to their sixth form, offering Latymer as a base over their summer term. Four KAA pupils continued to come to Latymer, joining lessons in A level Design, and are predicted excellent grades.

If our goal of Inspiring Minds is met, Latymer Upper will be able to offer a quarter of its pupils a means tested bursary, meaning Latymer will become one of the most inclusive independent schools in the country. Since David became Head the number of students in receipt of bursaries has already increased by 42% – and this coming September will see 18% of the new Year 7 pupils in receipt of a bursary, totalling 175 bursary pupils across the School. To see these children flourish and excel in the wider world is one step towards smashing the class glass ceiling.

Videos

Inspiring Minds campaign launch with David Goodhew https://youtu.be/W0NJFnfuTBE
Latymer Foundation at Hammersmith – Inspiring Minds https://www.latymerfoundation.org/
Film for Inspiring Minds bursary campaign fundraiser https://youtu.be/t2eFRmULE3c
TES article social mobility by David Goodhew (full article below) https://www.tes.com/news/its-time-independent-school-heads-used-their-power-and-stepped-their-social-mobility-efforts