The Ludgrove Foundation

School Development

Ludgrove is a full-boarding school which allows boys to thrive and gives them all the qualities that allow them to flourish in the country’s most selective public schools. The support of the Foundation ensures that Ludgrove is making strategic investments to remain one of the country’s leading prep schools while enhancing what makes it distinctive.

Ludgrove School was founded in 1892 and, in 1972, passed from private ownership into a charitable trust. The objectives of the Trust are the promotion and provision of education and, in 2012, The Ludgrove School Foundation was set up by the Governing Body to help the School achieve these objectives. The current board is made up of existing and past parents and Old Ludgrovians.

Building for Future Generations

The support provided by the Foundation has been principally directed at improving facilities and contributing towards the cost of transformational bursaries. In 2019, the Foundation raised £1,250,000 towards the cost of building the Exploration Centre and

As part of Ludgrove’s commitment to an outstanding all-round education, the Foundation was proud to support the School to build one of the finest prep school scientific and creative learning environments in the country.

Building work on the £2.5million state-of-the-art building was completed at the beginning of October 2020 and, within a week, Science classes were up and running in the Centre. Coding, Art, Pottery and Woodwork were all open for business in January 2021.

In the years since its opening, more than 300 boys have benefited from the top class facilities, igniting the scientific and creative talents of many generations of Ludgrovians.

With this success in mind, the Foundation is looking forward to helping the School with other capital projects over the next few years.

Transformational Bursaries

Ludgrove is a community where pupils are prepared to live in a diverse world. Through bursaries, the Foundation aims to draw pupils from a broader spectrum of society and make it possible for them to benefit from a Ludgrove education. Our mission, therefore, is to make Ludgrove more accessible to talented and inspiring boys who can only take up a place here with full fee support.

Since 2018, Ludgrove has provided full bursaries to 11 deserving boys who combine genuine need with motivation and potential. ‘Need’ may mean their current circumstances – both at school and at home – are particularly challenging. We have done this because we have seen how these awards truly ‘make a difference’, benefitting not only the individual but also the entire School community. We call these transformational bursaries Foundation Awards because, thanks to generous donors, the Ludgrove Foundation has been able to assist the School with the funding.

Foundation Award places at Ludgrove support boys for the critical two years (Years 7 and 8) between the end of state primary and the start of a place at an independent senior school. This means boys joining the scheme come to Ludgrove aged 11 and leave us at 13.

Most candidates are recommended by the Royal National Children's SpringBoard Foundation and we place a very strong emphasis on ensuring their happy assimilation at Ludgrove. Moreover, we use a buddy scheme and focused pastoral care.

During the boys’ time with us, we work extremely hard to place each of our Foundationers at a suitable senior school on a similar bursary scheme.

Trustees

The Ludgrove Foundation is led by a group of Trustees comprising parents and Old Ludgrovians who combine personal experience of Ludgrove with a wealth of business acumen.

Trustees:

Logie Fitzwilliams, Chairman, current parent, OL
Ruth den Besten, current parent
Jamie Carter, past parent
Peter Eckersley, OL
Tawanda Pari, current parent
Thomas van Straubenzee, OL
Lucy Winkworth, current parent

Executive members:

Simon Barber, Headmaster
Maura Brittain, Bursar

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