HMC and IDPE 2024 School Bursaries and Partnerships Conference

10:00 – 10:05

Welcome and opening remarks

Speaker: Melvyn Roffe, Principal, George Watson's College, and Vice Chair, HMC; Amy Da Costa, Head of Sales, Toucan Tech (Headline sponsor)

10:05 – 10:50

Plenary 1

Bursaries and partnerships: 2024 and beyond

In light of the current economic, political and social pressures on schools, what can we do to adapt and future-proof our bursary and partnership programmes to build aspiration across communities and improve the outcomes for all our young people.

Speakers:  Pete Kirkbride, National Director of Secondary Education, E-ACT; David Laws, Chair of Trustees, Education Policy Institute; Julie Robinson, CEO, ISC; Dr Joseph Spence, The Master, Dulwich College

Chair:  Mark Taylor,  Bursar and Clerk to the Governors, The King's School, Canterbury; Chair, AGBIS; and Vice Chair, ISC Board

10:50 – 11:20

Morning coffee break

11:20 – 12:10

Breakout 1

Diversifying bursary funding: from vineyards to cookery classes

Join this fascinating case study with Camilla Mair, Foundation Director at Woldingham School, as she shares how they are using unusual opportunities to provide sustainable funding for bursaries. Their approach to 'sweating your assets', which includes using their land to plant a vineyard and repurposing space for a sustainable cookery school, is a real lesson in project management and innovative fundraising. Plus, hear how new fundraising tactics have opened up new networks of potential donors and encouraged them to pledge for the future.

Speakers: Camilla Mair, Foundation Director at Woldingham School
Chair: Kate Jillings, Co-Founder, Toucan Tech

Creating, sustaining and developing partnerships

Cross-sector partnerships provide opportunities for children that no school can deliver alone, but how do you create a vision that recognises the value of all schools and a programme of activity where all partners benefit equally? York ISSP will share their insight on the establishment and growth over time of the York Independent State School Partnership.

Speakers: Jeremy Walker, Head Master, St Peter's School and Toby Eastaugh, Principal, Vale of York Academy
Chair: Melanie Horsburgh, Director of Member Services, HMC

Growing non-fee income: enterprise and development 

With tightening budgets and the threat of VAT on fees, prioritising funding for your school's partnership and bursary programmes can be increasingly challenging, and identifying alternative income streams is a must. How can development and commercial enterprise be part of the solution to sustaining your school's social good?

Speakers: Tarah Gillespie, Senior Development Manager; Robin Macpherson, Head of College; Laura Presslie, Director of Development, Marketing and Admissions, Robert Gordon's College
Chair: Dorothy McLaren, Chief Executive, Schools' Enterprise Association

Bursaries: planning for change

How will VAT on fees impact bursaries? How will your school finance bursaries in the future? And do you need to change how you fundraise now to grow bursary support? From potential VAT on fees and removal of business rate relief, to the financial impact of the cost-of-living crisis, explore how your school can prepare for the challenges that lie ahead, and continue to grow your bursary programme.

Speakers: Kieran Smith, VAT Partner and Guy Biggin, Partner, Social Purpose and Non-profits, Crowe UK LLP
Chair: John Murphie, Chief Operating Officer, ISBA

Transformative partnerships: doing more with less 

Speakers: Rachael Henshilwood, Director of Development and Partnerships and Rachel Moffatt, Partnerships Manager, St Edward's School Oxford; Stephanie Jankovic, Cutteslowe Community Centre Manager, Cutteslowe Community Association

12:20 – 13:10

Breakout 2

The united front: the crucial role of senior leadership collaboration in shaping your bursary and outreach programme

Explore how St Dunstan's College has accelerated its mission to restart its alumni programme, instilling a culture of giving amongst its current parents and alumni and creating a unified strategic vision, which aligns its financial goals and fundraising efforts and establishes a collaborative approach between its Head, Director of Development and Alumni Relations, and Chief Finance Officer, in order to drive forward change.

Speakers: Isabelle Blake-James, Director of Development and Alumni Relations; Hannah Fox, Chief Finance Officer, and Nick Hewlett, Head, St Dunstan's College
Chair: Louise Bennett, CEO, IDPE

From 0 to 100: bringing the whole community on your partnership journey

Creating shared and mutually beneficial goals is the key to any successful school partnership… but how do you encourage your colleagues to embrace a new way of working? Join us to explore how to create collaborative relationships across a network of schools and accelerate the impact of your partnership programme.

Speaker: Lotte Tulloch, Head, Denstone College
Chair: Melanie Horsburgh, Director of Member Services, HMC

Leveraging successful partnerships to enable young people to fulfil their potential

The Shaftesbury Enterprise is a Harrow School initiative that focuses on the educational outcomes and life opportunities of young people, to enable every young person in our community, irrespective of background, to thrive and achieve their full potential. Explore how Harrow School works in partnership with local schools and community organisations to improve educational attainment and offer diverse co-curricular opportunities, whilst at the same time widening access, by providing bursaries, exemplary pastoral support and opportunities in a boarding environment for boys who would thrive at Harrow School but for whom the fees are prohibitive.

Speakers: Dr Gitanjali Bhattacharya, Director of Lumina and Head of Access and Partnerships and Tim Dalton, Director of Shaftesbury Enterprise, Harrow School
Chair: Rachael Henshilwood, Director of Development and Partnerships, St Edward's School, Oxford

Realising potential through transformational bursaries

From the recruitment and admissions process through to the pastoral support for bursary recipients throughout their time at your school, how can you ensure the well-being and aspirations of your bursary students to ensure they thrive in school and beyond?

Speakers: Jan Browne, Head of Bursary Support, The Royal Grammar School, Newcastle and Jenny Hopkinson, Founder, The Bursary Foundation
Chair: Laura Firth, Director of Development and Alumni Relations, Bolton School

Social mobility: how to measure and communicate the impact of bursaries

Bursaries aim to provide life-changing educational opportunities for students who couldn't otherwise afford it. But how do we know the impact of these bursaries? Amanda and Christina will discuss the range of different audiences who are interested in the evidence, and the ways in which you can conceptualise and measure it.

Speakers: Dr Christina Floe, Social Impact Lead and Amanda Scott, Executive Director, Latymer Foundation at Hammersmith
Chair: Annabel Green, Head of Content, IDPE

13:10 – 14:00

Lunch

14:00 – 14:45

Plenary 2

The social good: how to measure the value of school partnerships and bursary programmes?

Bursary and partnership programmes can be transformative; providing life-changing opportunities for young people, developing diversity and inclusivity in your school, and enhancing learning opportunities across a community, but how can we measure these tangible benefits? And how can we demonstrate the social impact of bursary and partnership programmes?

Speakers: Oliver Blond, Chief Executive, Schools Partnerships Alliance; Deborah McMillan, Deputy Chief Master, King Edward's School; Ali Henderson, Chief Executive, Royal National Children's SpringBoard Foundation, and Alex Hutchinson, Head, James Allen's Girls' School

Chair: Melvyn Roffe, Principal, George Watson's College, and Vice Chair, HMC

14:45 – 15:15

Afternoon break

15:15 – 16:05

Breakout 3

Good governance: navigating the risks of delivering social impact

With the current economic and political uncertainty facing the schools' sector, how can we adapt our structures, strategies and financial models to respond to the challenges ahead? And how can we mitigate risk to continue to deliver the social impact of our bursary and partnership programmes?

Speakers: Cheryl Connelly, Director of Training and Membership (Deputy CEO), AGBIS and Sian Champkin, Partner, VWV
Chair: Louise Bennett, CEO, IDPE

Understanding and communicating the impact of your partnerships: practical, low resource and meaningful ways to evaluate impact

For those running partnerships, impact has never been more important. But measuring this is often far from simple, with methods ranging from satisfaction surveys to sustained impact analysis, we will hear how a school developed their impact evaluation and explore meaningful and easy-to-implement tools to use with your partners.

Speakers: Owen Carter, Co-Founder and Managing Director, ImpactEd Group and Ben Jones, Director of Partnerships, Alleyn's School
Chair: Annabel Green, Head of Content, IDPE

The practicalities of partnerships: bring your ideas and challenges!

Partnership working makes so much sense on paper, but the reality of institutions working together for mutual aims brings with it many practical challenges. Highgate is the principal education sponsor of LAET, with both schools running their own outreach and enrichment programmes, Chrysalis and Chrysalis East, often juggling multiple partnerships with differing aims. Explore how they are working together to navigate the challenges and maximise on the opportunities of these multiple partnerships, and bring your own questions and ideas, to discuss and share in this workshop session.

Speaker: Helen Drummond, Programme Director – Chrysalis East, London Academy of Excellence Tottenham and Chanel Noel, Director of Community Partnerships and Strategic Inclusion Lead, Highgate School
Chair: Melanie Horsburgh, Director of Member Services, HMC

Bursaries: where to start in smaller schools?

From integrating your bursary programme into the school strategy and managing the risk of investing in a new initiative; to fundraising for bursaries and engaging your whole school community in understanding the value of bursaries, there is much to consider when a school embarks on the bursary journey. Join Malvern St James as they share their insight and learning from the past 3 years, on developing their bursary programme.

Speaker: Olivera Raraty, GSA Representative and Former Headmistress, Malvern St James Girls' School
Chair: Sarah Butterworth, Director of Schools, Royal National Children's Springboard Foundation

A story of trust and authenticity: how can we develop widespread community engagement and sustainable fundraising? 

The symbiotic relationship between the songbird and meerkat means that both animals gain from their collaboration; their partnership is win-win! Schools' development is no different: only through creating a comprehensive community engagement programme based on internal and external long-term relationships, can your school achieve its ambitious fundraising goals.

Speakers: Shaun Fenton, Headmaster and Jonny Hylton, RGS Foundation Director, Reigate Grammar School
Chair: Richard Harman, Chief Executive, AGBIS

16:10 – 16:30

Plenary 3

Providing opportunities: the power of bursaries and partnerships
Hear first-hand from three young people sharing their experience of the transformational impact of bursaries and partnerships on their lives and future opportunities.
Speakers: Holly, Chrysalis Teaching Fellow, Highgate School; Iman and Jeevan, Alumni Advisory Board Panel, Royal National Children's Springboard Foundation
Chair: Laura Firth, Director of Development and Alumni Relations, Bolton School

16:30 – 16:35

Conference close

Speaker: Philip Britton, Head of Foundation, Bolton School, and Chair of Trustees, IDPE