Over many years, Bradford Grammar School has sought to enact an impactful public benefit on behalf of the young people and communities on our doorstep.
This cross-generational behaviour speaks to the very essence of education as a charitable purpose, rooted in English statute since 1601. Elizabethan lawmakers identified various charitable works of the age, including:
“… the relief of aged, impotent, and poor people; the maintenance of sick and maimed soldiers and mariners; schools of learning; free schools and scholars in universities; the repair of bridges, ports, havens, causeways, churches, sea banks, and highways; the education and preferment of orphans; the relief, stock, or maintenance of houses of correction; marriages of poor maids; support, aid, and help of young tradesmen, handicraftsmen and persons decayed…”
The 1601 Act was repealed by Lord Macnaghten in 1888, although the notion of the advancement of education as a charitable endeavour was preserved and is still alive today. ‘Ports’ and ‘sea banks’ might be in short supply in Bradford, the aged torso of the BGS Headmaster could lead one to imagine there is at least one ‘person decayed’ hereabouts. But specifics aside, our school continues to seek to act charitably and that won’t change any time soon.
BGS has, over the course of our long history, aspired to play a role on the civic scene, to be a good neighbour in Bradford. Young lives have been transformed by, for example, the Direct Grant and Assisted Places schemes of former governments, continued now by the school’s own means tested fee assistance programme maintained under the auspices of our new 1662 Fund.
Additionally, school values, of which ‘service’ is one, recognise ‘that we have a responsibility to share our time and talents and make a difference to the lives of others. We strive to play our role locally and nationally. We understand that by giving to others we enrich our own lives’. Accordingly, we are very much interconnected with our home city and collaboration is a natural behaviour.
Last week was Partnerships Week, timed to coincide with the launch of the latest Independent Schools Council, Celebrating Partnerships booklet. Some BGS public benefit partnerships have been featured in recent times. Tim Rogers of Future Transformation, and a driving force behind Bradford Tech Week, amongst other educational programmes, welcomed local primary and secondary pupils to BGS and provided a fascinating insight into hi-tech space industries in Yorkshire (who would have known?), while also launching rockets from the neatly clipped Governors’ Lawn! Our work with Tim was featured in 2021.
We also collaborated with Skipton Tennis Centre (STC) to deliver youth tennis and physical activity programmes for hundreds of school children from a wide variety of primary and secondary schools in West and North Yorkshire. Breaking down stereotypes, encouraging participation and mixing and widening access are key aspects of what STC and BGS are seeking to achieve. Adam Cox, head coach at STC, said he takes great pride in instilling a love of tennis in the hundreds of children who come to the centre and that: “We’re keen to ensure that tennis is inclusive and accessible for people of all ages and abilities and the regular BGS challenges, competitions and fixtures are a great way to encourage young people while still having that all essential fun!” This partnership was featured in 2022.
More recently, BGS has begun a seven-year partnership with the internationally acclaimed NHS health project Born in Bradford (BiB). In their own words, BiB aspires to “show how communities across our great city can join hands to become a living network of citizen scientists, helping to create a healthier and happier future for our children”. In support of their ‘Age of Wonder’ study of Bradford teenagers, BGS has run surveys and health assessments to collect data and has developed a programme of interactive research activities suited to Year 9 students to showcase research within the NHS, which BiB will roll out to state schools in the area. Young people across Bradford from all kinds of backgrounds will find out more about science, digital communications and will contribute data on teenage lifestyles, mental and physical health, and their view of the world. This will enable BiB to take steps towards understanding and improving the lives of young people nationally.
At BGS we remain characteristically optimistic about the future of our outreach and partnership work, which is growing. For us, building and sustaining relationships remains part of our heritage and behaviour, bound to our identity and place within Bradford and Yorkshire. But we are not complacent. Increased cooperation between educators, community groups and businesses can only be good for our region as elsewhere. Now more than ever in our nation there is an obligation on us all to work together for the benefit of the young: the more diverse the partnerships, the greater the reach.
Through partnerships and widening access via means tested Assisted Places, BGS seeks to be a good neighbour in Bradford for generations to come.
“Now more than ever in our nation there is an obligation on us all to work together for the benefit of the young: the more diverse the partnerships, the greater the reach.”
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