Best Schools - St Swithun’s School To Provide Two Places A Year For Girls In Care Or On The Brink Of Care

St Swithun’s School in Winchester is aiming to provide two full bursaries every year to girls through its recently re-launched Bramston Bursary Foundation. Working with its partner charities and the local authority, St Swithun’s will identify girls who are living in care or at home on the brink of going into care, but who would thrive emotionally and academically in the stability of the boarding school environment at St Swithun’s.

The Bramston Bursary Foundation has an annual fund-raising target of £250,000, which, fund-matched by the school itself, will provide bursaries for two girls joining at 11+, covering the costs of school fees plus 10% for the additional cost of school uniform, trips, social outings and transportation.

Headmistress Jane Gandee said ‘The Bramston Bursary Foundation was established in the name of Anna Bramston who founded St Swithun’s in 1884 with the vision to provide talented and hard-working girls, irrespective of background, with the opportunity to reach their full potential through education. We have relaunched the Foundation to focus on raising funds only for full life-changing transformational bursaries which will allow girls who would not otherwise be able to afford any part of the school fees the opportunity to benefit from a St Swithun’s education.’

To identify girls who would flourish at St Swithun’s, the school is working with the Royal National SpringBoard Foundation, the UK’s largest boarding school bursary charity, and Buttle UK whose mission is the maintenance, education and advancement in life of children and young people in poverty or difficult family circumstances. St Swithun’s is part of the Boarding School Partnerships, a government-backed service providing expertise and information about boarding school placements for vulnerable young people. It is also working directly with Hampshire County Council’s social care teams.

‘Through the work of the Bramston Bursary Foundation, St Swithun’s aims to provide stability to children who might otherwise move schools a number of times during their educational career through changes in foster arrangements. We are doing what we can to break the cycle of underachievement and improve the life prospects of our Bramston Bursary Foundation students,’ said Jane Gandee.

Complaints against leading exam boards double in two years

The number of complaints received by Ofqual about England’s largest exam boards has nearly doubled over the past two years, latest figures show.

Statistics released by the exams regulator today reveal that there were 143 complaints made against AQA, Pearson and OCR in 2018-19.

This is a rise of 54 per cent from the 93 complaints received last year and a 91 per cent rise in the number of complaints received in 2016-17 – 75.

Despite the rise in the number of complaints, those that were upheld and partially upheld has actually stayed relatively consistent. Four of the 71 complaints this year were upheld, down from the five upheld the year before and equivalent to the four in 2016-17.

AQA said that the figures “reflect the fact we’re the UK’s biggest exam board”, with a rise in the number of schools choosing the exam board for GCSEs over the last few years.