King’s is a charity with a long record of supporting pupils from a range of backgrounds. At early as 1072, Abbot Serlo arrived in Gloucester to find monks teaching young boys in the Abbey precincts. King Henry VIII later dissolved the Abbey school and established the ‘College School’ in 1541, which offered scholarships to local children. Despite this rich tradition of benefaction, the school has never had an enduring fund to award bursaries, although all King’s alumni will recall and understand the importance of social diversity at school in their own era.

Every week in school we meet prospective pupils with great potential who would flourish at King’s, but many families do not have the financial means to make the most of their potential. We want to be able to offer more of these pupils the opportunity to fully develop their talent, whether that be in the classroom, on the stage, or on the sports field - and transform their life chances. 

A key aim of the school is to recruit pupils from a range of backgrounds who will play a full, successful part in the life of the school.  So when we see talented pupils who could fulfil this aim, we see an opportunity to invest in them. 

We already provide a significant amount of financial support in the form of scholarships and bursaries which accounts for 15% of our annual fee income. Impressively, this figure is already 50% higher than the UK independent school average, but because all independent schools’ finances are coming under great political threat, we need to remove our reliance on fee income alone to support bursaries. 

By building our Bursary Endowment Fund, many more children will be able to benefit from all the King’s has to offer. 

As well as transforming lives through opportunity, we know that diverse experiences and ideas encourage all of our pupils to think differently. By embracing pupils from a range of backgrounds, it enriches the learning experience for all. 

We want to do more, but we cannot do it alone