Established in 1553 by Edward VI, the School was originally part of the Bridewell Royal Hospital Foundation in London and provided a home and training for destitute children. In the 19th century, the School moved to its current site in Surrey and adopted its present name of King Edward's School Witley.

The School caters for some 400 boys and girls aged from 11 to 18. Two-thirds of the children are boarders. Pupils come from all parts of the UK including some from overseas. Emphasis is placed on providing a caring environment in which children can be nurtured and helped to move beyond the difficulties of their family circumstances so that they can achieve their full potential. 

Through our bursaries, King Edward's provides support for around 100 children whose family background means that they would benefit from a boarding education. This need is usually due to a combination of factors including the loss of one or both parents, serious illness within the family unit and cases of abuse. In all cases, the families' financial difficulties mean that the children receive financial support from the School in the form of bursaries. It costs £25,000 approximately a year to provide a fully funded bursary place at the School. This includes all tuition fees and boarding costs including uniform and other equipment.

Last year, the School supported just under half the boarding pupils in this way. King Edward's typically provides up to 50% of the required funding and the balance then comes from a variety of sources: e.g. linked charities; local authorities; Bridewell Fellows; OW scholarship fund, Annual Giving Fund; parents and grandparents.

During the school year 2008-9 the following amounts were raised to provide financial support for 115 different youngsters:

Bridewell Royal Hospital                                                                                          £430,000 Donations, Fellows and OW’s                                                                                   £267,000 City of London                                                                                                       £351,000
Linked Charities                                                                                                     £212,000
Local Authorities                                                                                                    £142,000
Total Bursary Funds raised for 2008-2009 (supporting 115 youngsters)   £1,402,000

The aspiration and ambition of the school governors is to steadily raise this to 200 supported youngsters, which will mean providing an income for bursaries of nearly £3 million per year. This annual income is achievable by gradually increasing income from linked charities; adding to the numbers of Bridewell Fellows and other donors; involving greater numbers of local authorities and also by endeavouring to build up the endowment fund that provides the majority share of the foundation bursary funding.