As the Headmaster explains in his article overleaf, we are approaching a significant time for the Campaign for Stowe – as we change the focus of our fundraising and launch our ‘Change 100’ mission for bursaries. As such, this is a time for everyone involved with the Campaign to pause and to extend, once again, our most sincere and ongoing thanks to all those who have been able and willing to support our endeavours so far. We are indebted to you all: thank you!
The Stowe School Foundation turned 21 years old last summer. In that time, over £31 million has been given by nearly 2000 donors and enabled us to restore and renew the facilities for Art, Music, Drama and Science; we have added outdoor sports facilities in key areas and new classrooms too. Last year we completed fundraising for a new Design, Technology and Engineering Centre, construction for which should begin this year, and we hope in the coming few years to complete the overhaul of the School’s essential infrastructure with significant improvements to indoor facilities for sport. In simple terms, the generosity of members of our community has enabled us to create academic and co-curricular facilities that we can be truly proud of and which provide Stoics with the very best educational opportunities.
Now, as we approach the School’s Centenary in 2023, we are very deliberately shifting our focus away from buildings and towards an area that we all believe will not only help improve the educational environment of every Stoic, but will also ensure that their time at Stowe best prepares them for the modern, changing world.
Our focus and mission in the years to come will centre around a truly bold ambition to increase substantially the number of means-tested bursaries that the School is able to provide. Our ‘Change 100’ mission will seek to ensure that many talented and deserving children, who would simply never otherwise enjoy the life-changing opportunity of a Stowe education, will benefit in just this way. The wonderful buildings and facilities that we have created will be complemented by the talents that these children bring – giving them the opportunity to learn, develop and excel, and lifting the sights too of every member of the Stowe community.
We look forward to telling you much more about that transformative ambition over the months to come. For now, we would like to share a glimpse of our thinking – perhaps a small taster of things to come – with the following introduction to the Stowe ‘Martlet’, for which I will hand over to the Development Manager, Charlie Clare (Chatham 94). In the meantime, as ever, if you would like to learn more about the work of the Development team, and our ambitions to enhance the environment of Stowe and the opportunities we seek to provide, or indeed you might be interested in giving your support, I would be so pleased to hear from you – please do get in touch.
Colin Dudgeon, Director of Development
01280 818249 cdudgeon@stowe.co.uk