"We offer fee support to 97 per cent of pupils"

“It was established by the young King Edward VI in 1552 to help educate poor and needy children on the streets of London. The school has remained true to this sense of philanthropy ever since and today it offers fee assistance to 97 per cent of its pupils, of which at least 14 per cent are fully supported. We help hundreds of children from challenging or disadvantaged backgrounds.”

“The Christ’s Hospital Foundation was established at the same time as the school and grew over the years thanks to charitable donations. It has remained at the same level for many years, and now funds 80 per cent of the annual budget of the school every year.

“Up until 100 years ago, we were near St Paul’s in the City of London before moving to Sussex. Partly as a consequence we have enjoyed support from many institutions in the City, including the Corporation and the Livery companies. Alumni have helped with the running costs of the school as has Donation Governorship.”

“At its peak, our Foundation was worth £320 million. During the recession its value has reduced by over 30 per cent, not least because a significant proportion has been invested in property. Rental income is holding up but the value of our property has fallen. We’re suffering from the same recessionary problems as everyone else, but with relatively fixed outgoings.”

“We look at parental income and identify the ability of parents to contribute towards the cost of the child being here. At least 70 per cent of successful applicants pay less than 10 per cent of the cost.

“The need may not be a financial one specifically. A child may be part of a lone parent family where the parent is finding it difficult to cope. Or, it could be a family where one sibling requires disproportionate family attention, for instance a child with autism, and consequently another child who has real potential is not getting the attention that he or she needs.  Christ’s Hospital can help to meet that need.

“Very topically, children from service families where a parent has been killed or injured in Iraq or Afghanistan may also have a real need, now or in the future.

“The need element is a very important facet of our charitable mission.”

“We look at potential as much as academic ability. It’s quite a complicated assessment process to identify those children that combine ability and meet the need criteria, but we have a remarkable success rate.

“What really strikes me is the diversity of the children at Christ’s Hospital. They’re from all sorts of cultural backgrounds yet are just like an extended family.  The distinctive Tudor uniform worn everyday reinforces this sense of belonging. Both the diversity and strong common identity really comes across visually when six days a week, the children march four-abreast into lunch to the music of the band.

“Thirty per cent of children we assess would qualify for school meals, whereas in the top state schools, it’s three per cent. Also, less than three per cent of our pupils pay the full fees.”

“If the children have worked hard enough, and been focused enough, anything should be within their grasp by the time they leave aged 18. We enable great social mobility through the socio-economic groups – taking the majority of children from the fourth quartile economically to the first quartile as alumni.

“I think that’s the kind of social mobility that many people would like to see more of.”

“The uniform is free and school trips are heavily subsidised (according to income) so there are very few extras to budget for. Also, everyone has the opportunity to play an instrument and tuition on at least one instrument is free for those who study music at GCSE and/or A Level”

“We’re having to be very careful with costs. For example, although we do have sufficient pastoral care in that the system works, we’d always like more and would like to take on additional staff, but currently we’re unable to.

“Some elements of our major maintenance plan have had to be delayed, which builds up a backlog. All these economies are to ensure that we can continue to offer support to the pupil.

“We are redoubling our fundraising efforts currently. There is a perception that we’re a very rich, privileged school but we’re not. We have a significant gap between our income and our essential expenditure and if we don’t start to increase the size of the endowment we will have even less to draw on in future.

“People often don’t understand what the pupils’ background is, and how hard we have to work to balance the books in order to maintain the essential level of financial support to parents.

“My job is incredibly worthwhile. If you want to believe in what Christ’s Hospital is about, come and talk to the children. Their pride in their school and enthusiasm to grasp this opportunity is remarkable.

“There is no better example of how philanthropy can achieve the kind of social mobility that we all know is the right thing to do but we so seldom achieve.

“Every time I think ‘here’s another problem’, all I have to do is look out of the window and see these bright, sparky children and think ‘this is fantastic’. Currently around 10 per cent of our leavers go to Oxbridge and the other 90 per cent become first class citizens who now have the chance to realise their full potential. I can think of no better reward.”