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Supporting People

People and opportunity have been central to the Foundation Schools. The Founders noted in July 1806 that the new school should have “the power to admit gratuitously a number of pupils who may be in confined circumstances” and again in 1808 “meritorious individuals, who possess the promising talents which would otherwise be lost”. The Founders determined this should be “an object which the Committee will never lose sight of”.

The Middlesex Scheme, which ran for a generation following the Second World War, and its successor the Assisted Places Scheme, provided a Mill Hill education for pupils who could not otherwise have benefited from it. Many of these recognise the difference it made to their lives. Their contemporaries speak highly of the contribution they made to every aspect of the School community and how easily they were assimilated.

The Governors are committed to making this possible again, as the Foundation enters its third century. They wish to be able to offer each year places to such “meritorious individuals” as the Founders envisaged. To facilitate this they are launching a two-part initiative to complement the resources to support needy pupils which currently exist.

A Better Chance Bursary Scheme…

…making a Mill Hill education possible for talented young people.

The first A Better Chance Bursary pupils have taken up their places in Foundation Schools on 100% bursaries. These pupils are “the meritorious individuals whose talents would otherwise be lost” to whose education the Mill Hill School founders committed themselves.

“I think expansion is an excellent idea and is just what we had in mind when we started the A Better Chance Bursary project. I would love to see 20 A Better Chance Bursaries available to the School. We could even have a special dinner for all the donors.” Robin Mills, co-funder with Graham Drake (both Ridgeway 1962) of the inaugural A Better Chance Bursary.

Objective

The Mill Hill School Foundation’s objective is to provide 60 full fee bursaries, of which the Foundation Appeal is tasked with supporting 20. In order to make this sustainable in perpetuity the Foundation Appeal is seeking to build a Bursary Endowment Fund. However this is a long-term strategy and in the short-term most of the initial full fee bursaries will be funded by the A Better Chance Bursary Scheme.

Everyone benefits

There are three beneficiaries from an A Better Chance Bursary:

  1. The pupil who receives a Mill Hill School Foundation education will, like so many on the Middlesex and Assisted Places Schemes, have a potentially life-changing experience. He/she will benefit from not only the formal schooling but also sport, drama, music, arts, CCF and a multitude of other opportunities and perhaps above all friendships. The Old Millhillians community will sustain the benefit long after leaving the School itself. It is truly a lifetime opportunity.
  2. The Mill Hill School Foundation will enjoy the input of able individuals “whose talents would otherwise be lost” (Founders’ Charter 1806). Every Bursary beneficiary must meet the entry requirements and is likely to have strengths in one or more particular areas (e.g. academic, sport, music, drama, leadership etc). His/her fellow pupils will benefit from mixing with people of a different background and who have much to offer.
  3. The donors will enjoy observing how the young person they are funding grows and develops as a result of their generosity; this can be a genuinely moving and inspiring experience. They will receive regular reports on the progress of their beneficiary within the necessary limitations on the identification of beneficiaries and the actual contact which donors might have with them.

How it works

While some bursaries may be fully funded by an individual (as is the second A Better Chance Bursary) or by two people, the majority are likely to be funded by small groups of individuals with a common interest. They might be from the same house and/or year or live in the same area/country or share a common passion for sport/music/drama. One thing which every one of these groups will have in common is a leader, someone who agrees to take responsibility for raising the bursary funds and who will recruit the participating co-funders and unite them towards a common goal. The first A Better Chance Bursary leaders are already building their groups.

Interested? Would you like to be part of giving a young person a Mill Hill education? Contact Nick Priestnall by email np@millhill.org.uk or telephone 020 8906 7925.