Introducing our annual review of a transformative year

By Will Durham
Director of the William Ellis Trust

It is a real pleasure to introduce our first annual review as the William Ellis Trust. You can read this here.

Later in the year we will be able to add our financial accounts to these, and it will become our formal annual report.

I would like to extend my thanks to everyone who has been a part of this new chapter for the Trust over the last year. We are delighted to be becoming more visible in the work we do, and how we are creating a vibrant, supportive community around the school. We have a range of exciting plans in motion, and in development, for the year ahead and look forward to your involvement.

On a personal level it has been a genuine pleasure meeting so many people with a strong connection to, and care for, the school. I hope you feel the Trust is helping build on this connection further.

We have achieved a great deal over the past twelve months, including:

·       Developing a new strategy designed to enhance the work of the school

·       Revising how we provide funding to the school to deliver this while bringing real benefits to pupils

·       Growing our fundraising through individuals and trusts and foundations to be able to grow our ambitions and impact

·       Collaborating with a wide range of people and organisations to open up new opportunities for our pupils

If you are inspired by the work we are doing at the Trust, in partnership with the school, we hope you will be moved to support us to expand it all. There are many ways in which people support our work currently.

The Rather Use Than Fame Club:

This is our growing regular giving initiative that allows us to invest in a wider range of innovative and interesting projects and opportunities for the benefits of pupils. Through each of us giving a little each month, we have a huge amount of impact as a collective.

The Circle of the Oak:

This is our club designed to thank major supporters, and those who have pledged to leave a legacy to the Trust in their wills. Major supporters fund specific projects, or donate to help us grow our investment fund and its returns which make up our core funding budget.

One off donations:

We know regular giving isn’t for everyone, and we can’t all become major supporters. Any and all one-off gifts help grow our in-year funding budget and are all gratefully received.


What do we have planned?

Over the next financial year we will be taking on a second staff member on secondment from the school to help develop our work further.

We are currently working on creating an opportunity for an exciting sports-related mentoring and development programme in the school for which we are looking to raise £6,000 per year to enable.

We have other exciting projects in the pipeline in areas such as:

·       Learning from and celebrating the heritage of the school and the local area

·       Launching a Founders’ Day in late January 2027

·       Opening up volunteering in the community opportunities for our pupils

·       Working with those who will be among the first 16-year-olds to be able to vote in a few short years

·       Arts and music-based collaborative projects between our pupils and local organisations and experts

·       Many more.

We look forward to reporting on successful delivery of all of this, plus a great deal more, in a years’ time and hope you will consider lending your support to make it an even bigger, brighter and better year overall.