What is the Bridewell Royal Hospital?
Bridewell Royal Hospital, incorporating King Edward’s Witley, Barrow Hills School and Longacre School is a registered Charity, No. 311997.
The Bridewell Royal Hospital takes its name from Bridewell Palace. In 1553 Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, convinced the boy King Edward VI to grant his palace at Bridewell to the Lord Mayor of London as a place for the training and education of poor children.
In 1867 King Edward’s moved out of London to Witley. The City links, that have continued for over four centuries, have guaranteed the vision of Nicholas Ridley and King Edward VI lives on in the provision of a first class, free or supported education to talented young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, who, through no fault of their own, cannot thrive educationally in their home environment. These children can grow and learn in a wonderful school environment of care, challenge and opportunity, one set up so that they can go on to achieve everything in life of which they are capable. They live and study alongside pupils from all walks of life and corners of the world.
The Bridewell Royal Hospital’s purpose is to raise money to enable our Founder’s vision to continue.
In addition to financing our Foundation pupils – called “Foundationers” – Bridwell Royal Hospital looks to raise money to improve and extend facilities and purchase educational resources that enable the school to deliver a safe and wonderful educational environment for today and the future.
It is immensely grateful to Old Witleians, parents, staff, City Livery Companies, Charitable Trusts and corporations for their ongoing financial support, which enables us to provide bursary places and enhance our facilities and enrich the education our pupils enjoy today and in the future. To find out more about supporting us, please click here.
Our Bridewell Foundation Pupils
King Edward’s Witley changing lives and creating new life opportunities for deserving scholars
King Edward’s Witley has always had, and continues to have, a strong belief in social responsibility. The School was founded in 1553 on compassion and generosity towards the less fortunate. To continue the supporting mission of the School we offer means-tested bursaries to children from challenging backgrounds, and thereby give them an opportunity to thrive and reach their full potential.Funding for our bursary support is from the School’s parent Foundation: Bridewell Royal Hospital. At any one time, we may have between 5 and 10 Foundation Bursary pupils in each year group.
Bursaries range from 10% up to a maximum of 50% of boarding or day fees. All bursary awards (boarding and day) are made after assessing the financial circumstances of the family (income and assets), as well as the individual child’s “boarding need” or other reason for coming to the School as a day pupil.
Bursary applications should be started at the same time the child registers to join the School.
Bursaries for Boarding Pupils
The ‘boarding need’ is a measure of illness, disability, or other trauma in the home – where it would be beneficial for the child to be away from home for a few weeks at a time, enabling them to concentrate on their academic studies during the day and to participate in other activities after School or at the weekends.
For a situation where we offer a 50% bursary to a child with a high boarding need, we have strong links with a number of other charities who might be able to provide additional financial support. In such a situation several charities might each be able to grant an award, and these will accumulate to cover some, most or even all of the fees remaining.
The School, or a third-party supporting charity, may require a home visit to take place.
Bursaries for Day Pupils
Bursary applications for day pupils, still need to demonstrate a strong reason for coming to the School, what we might call the ‘potential to benefit’ from coming to King Edward’s. Assessing the financial circumstances of the family (income and assets), will still be required in this application.
Again, bursaries for day pupils might reach 50% of the school fees, but in these applications there will not be additional third-party charity support, so it is more relevant for the family to have some regular income to cover the remaining School fees.
If you would like more information on our Foundation Bursaries, please contact Mr Dan Rogers, on bursaries@kesw.org or telephone 01428 686700. The deadline for all bursary applications is November 1st.
