Why is our work important?
By Will Durham
It has been a fast start to 2026 for everyone at the William Ellis Trust. Last month I spent a valuable morning with our trustees and William Ellis School headteacher Izzy Jones reviewing our strategy and priorities for the year ahead. As a small charity, we are fortunate to have a knowledgeable and committed board of trustees, each with a strong relationship with the school. You can learn more about them in the About Us section of our website.
In December I reflected on the impact of our work in 2025, and if you missed it you can catch up here. We are continually involved in creating and supporting new initiatives and resources within the school and community that meet pupils at their point of interest, and back the deep knowledge and expertise of the staff body.
As a follow-on to that reflection, and after our recent discussions, it feels timely to share why the work of the Trust and the school matters so deeply, and what we have planned for the months ahead. Awareness and support for our work continues to grow, for which we are extremely grateful, and I hope this update helps set out why your support, in its many forms, is so important.
The school and our local context:
It is important to begin with the community in which the school sits and where much of our work takes place. Camden is a borough of great diversity and opportunity, but also one of stark inequality. The diversity of our pupil population is a strength of the school, with pupils from a wide range of cultural backgrounds working together and building friendships. We know from discussions with pupils and alumni that meeting people from different backgrounds is something they value within their school experiences.
As of September 2025 the school population consisted of:
71% from global majority backgrounds with those from Black African and Bangladeshi backgrounds being most prevalent
39% are pupils for whom English is an additional language
We were recently provided with a demographic insight report by colleagues in the educational research sector, which highlights the challenges facing many of the boys who attend William Ellis.
A small selection of findings shows that, collectively, our pupils and their families:
experience more deprivation in housing access and living standards than 89 percent of schools nationally
face more income deprivation than 80 percent of school populations
encounter higher barriers to employment than 71 percent of schools
At the same time, the report recognises the rich opportunities of our location. Our pupils live in the top 1 percent of boroughs nationally for geographical opportunity. This reflects the concentration of businesses, cultural organisations and institutions across a wide range of sectors, alongside our proximity to the City and areas such as the Knowledge Quarter.
We do not share these statistics to paint a negative picture, but to underline the inequalities facing pupils today. Almost two in five secondary-aged pupils living in Camden attend fee-paying private schools, while in 2025, 44.8 percent of pupils in Camden state secondary schools were eligible for free school meals. These figures are reflected in the diverse and vibrant community at William Ellis where 55.3% of pupils are classified as being disadvantaged, twice the national average.
At its core, the William Ellis Trust exists to create opportunity and to challenge the idea that these barriers should determine pupils’ outcomes, now or in the future. This belief sits at the heart of the school’s founding in 1862 and continues to guide both the school and the Trust today. Our work is made possible by our supporters and focuses on enabling access to opportunities that would simply not exist without this financial backing.
A direct route to impact
Our strategy has been designed to support the wider goals of the headteacher and school governors, adding value by creating opportunities in areas where William Ellis has particular strength. As a state secondary school for boys, the school is well placed to work with academics and partner organisations to help shape a healthier and more positive understanding of boyhood and masculinity for the 21st century.
William Ellis School plays an important role locally, regionally and nationally in conversations about boys’ education. Izzy Jones, headteacher, is the new chair of the Central London Boys’ Impact Hub, part of national work led by Boys Impact through Bournemouth University. The school is also a founding member of the London Boys’ School Network, supported by a staff body with deep expertise in improving outcomes for boys.
Our Staff Innovation Fund enables staff to trial new approaches and access the resources needed to make them work. It is no coincidence that boys at William Ellis achieve stronger results and make better progress than anywhere else in Camden. While there is still more to do, the school is firmly part of the front line in improving outcomes for boys.
Within this context, the Trust focuses on enhancement and on reducing financial barriers wherever possible. We work with the school to develop new initiatives and help fund proven approaches that might otherwise not happen due to budget pressures and falling pupil numbers across Camden.
We continue to be guided by William Ellis’s founding principle of “Rather Use than Fame”. We believe we have an opportunity not only to support educational outcomes, but to help boys respond to the national challenge of lower achievement and aspiration among working-class young men. Our ambition is to sustain the school, strengthen learning, and support a culture where a small state school can have a meaningful impact on a persistent national issue. A little further in the article we speak about our new regular giving initiative. This helps our work building on the school motto and founding principle to create a community of individuals backing this belief in our pupils and staff to envisage a brighter future.
Our plans for the coming months
Alongside our leadership and staff innovation funds, we have recently committed a further £10,000+ to support initiatives running through the spring and into the summer term. These include:
ten LAMDA sessions focused on confidence, communication and performance skills
thirty-two pre-school basketball and mentoring sessions led by a school alumnus
staff time to build closer links with community organisations, including work with Wellesley Road Care Home
staff support for pupils performing at the Camden Youth Dance Festival
additional funding for the school library and the Accelerated Reader programme, building on an alumnus donation
These projects build on our previous support and reflect our commitment to meeting pupils through their interests while strengthening key areas of school provision. None of this work would be possible without our supporters, and much of it would simply not take place without the Trust.
We are also pleased to be providing additional funding to a research project led by Neighbourly Labs, with William Ellis as one of two participating secondary schools. The project will explore loneliness in schools and how best to ensure pupils feel a sense of connection and belonging.
In partnership with the school and Middlesex University, we are funding a series of six podcasts exploring what it means to be a boy in Camden in 2026. Pupils will act as co-producers rather than subjects, sharing their experiences in their own words. More information, including ways to get involved, will be shared in the coming weeks.
We will also be publishing a short impact report in the early summer term, exploring the difference our work makes, and we look forward to sharing this with you.
How you can get involved and support
We know there are many people who hold the school close to their hearts, whether as former pupils, parents or staff. Alongside changes to how we work, we have focused on strengthening existing communities and building new ones that support the school in different ways. We are grateful to all those who continue to live out the school motto by finding ways to be of use to today’s pupils.
Our growing alumni network is connecting former pupils with opportunities to support current students, including mock interviews, careers events and other activities. Alumni support runs throughout the school, from volunteers to trustees and staff, and we will be writing more about this in the near future. You can find out more about getting involved on the relevant page of our website.
Support can also come through opening up opportunities within your own networks. This might include offering work experience placements for pupils in Years 10 and 12, or enabling larger groups of pupils to visit workplaces and learn about different industries.
Since launching public fundraising last October, more than 25 individuals have made financial donations, including seven new members of our Rather Use Than Fame Club alluded to earlier. This group of regular donors provides vital, reliable income that allows us to plan and expand our work, alongside returns from our investment fund. Having only launched in late November it will already generate almost £3,000 per year to support opportunity creation within the school. We would love for you to consider joining, and share information about it with friends and family connected to the school.
Philanthropy sits at the heart of the school and the Trust. The school itself exists because of the generosity of our founder.
In the coming months we will be launching our major giving and legacy programme, the Circle of the Oak. This will bring together supporters who have chosen to leave a legacy to sustain the Trust and the school into the future. If you are interested in leaving a gift in your will, or in making a larger donation, please contact me at wdurham@williamellis.camden.sch.uk. Major gifts and legacies allow us to both grow our investments, increasing the income we can invest into the school each year, while allowing us greater freedom to support large scale projects within the school community.
A final word
Above all, thank you to everyone who has taken a greater interest in our work over the past year. We are fortunate to be part of a community that cares so deeply about the school, its pupils and others in the local area. Our work would not be possible without your support, whether through volunteering, donations or advocacy.
You might consider:
volunteering your time or expertise to inspire current pupils
opening up opportunities through your networks
speaking positively about the school to families considering secondary education so more may benefit from a William Ellis education
joining the Rather Use Than Fame Club, if you are able, to help grow our work. A £10 per month donation, with Gift Aid, provides £150 of funding to the school each year – and our collective impact as a donor club will continue to grow.
Thank you for your continued support, and here’s to a strong and purposeful 2026.
Will Durham
Director, William Ellis Trust