ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ

ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ grew out of a project to encourage philanthropic giving from the hedge fund sector. The new charity raised millions in the first years and gave broadly to a range of projects focused on child protection and health including:

• A partnership with Hope and Homes for Children to remove children from large scale institutions – changing the lives of more than 20,000 children in Romania and Bulgaria.
• A HIV/AIDS programme in South Africa that, through local partner Kheth’Impilo, continues to have a significant impact on the lives of vulnerable children today.
• A partnership with the Elizabeth Glazer Paediatric AIDS Foundation in Mozambique which set up and tested an innovative SMS reminder service to HIV-positive parents, carers and children. The programme reached over 30,000 patients.

While a broad range of international work continued, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ was increasingly interested in education and the possibilities of the new academy programme which offered a way for philanthropists to support turnaround schools in some of the most deprived communities in England. ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ’s first turnaround school – Burlington Danes Academy in West London opened under its new name in September.

Building a wider expertise in education, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ also started supporting a schools leadership training programme called Future Leaders and started funding an extended school programme pilot that would eventually grow into our music and other extracurricular programmes.

King Solomon Academy, a new primary in Edgware opened and ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ took on another converter academy – ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Walworth Academy in Southwark.

The early success of Future Leaders led to the foundation of School Leaders for India pilot programme which was launched in Mumbai and Pune. Work on health programmes continued and a new strategic health initiative partnership was launched between ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ and the Clinton Foundation in Mozambique.

In a bumper year, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ opened two new schools in London (ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Academy and ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Evelyn Grace) as well as taking on another converting school which became known as ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Globe. Teaching Leaders, a training programme for mid-level school leadership based on the Future Leaders model, was founded and ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ in India launched to create a fast-track school leadership training scheme.

The first ever ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ music gala ‘One Voice’ was held at the Barbican Centre, showcasing the impact of the music programme in schools. ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ schools expanded outside of London for the first time, taking on two converter schools: Charter Academy in Portsmouth and St Alban’s in Birmingham. King Solomon Academy in Edgware also opened its secondary, making the school all-through.

Later that year, the HIV/AIDS programme in South Africa became the first health initiative handed over to a local partner, Kheth’Impilo.

In another busy year, four schools extended or opened new buildings to students and the secondary phase of ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Academy in London opened, creating another all-through school.

ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ supported a pilot programme to reduce maternal and newborn deaths in Zimbabwe and supported learning and voucher programmes in India to increase access.

ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ won the International Aid and Development award at the annual UK Charity Awards this year for work in Bulgaria helping children out of institutional care.

In September three new primary schools in London – Conway, Oval and Atwood were all opened.

The Education Endowment Foundation also funded a major grant to roll out the Mathematics Mastery programme, a new initiative to improve numeracy developed by ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ, to 30 schools both inside and outside the network.

This year saw the launch of the first comprehensive diarrhoea programme in Sub-Saharan Africa in Zambia with the local Centre for Infectious Disease Research (CIDRZ) after 18 months of planning. ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ also launched a new public-private partnership initiative in Uganda which opened its first two secondary schools.

ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ also became a founding partner of STiR which aimed to promote grassroots innovation by dynamic teachers and schools to transform educational outcomes for the world’s poorest children starting with a pilot in Delhi. Teaching Leaders span out from ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ, now able to sustain itself as an independent charity.

It was also another big growth year with ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ taking on five converting schools. Two were in London: ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Bentworth Academy in Hammersmith and ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Putney in Wandsworth. We also grew our Birmingham hub taking on three turnaround schools which became known as ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Kings Academy, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Tindal and ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Rose Primary Academy. We also opened two brand new schools – ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Bolingbroke in Wandsworth and ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Isaac Newton Academy in Ilford.

To meet our growing demand for new teachers, we also launched the ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Teacher Training programme in collaboration with Canterbury Christ Church University, while in Mozambique we formally handed over our programme supporting HIV positive patients to the local Ministry of Health.

In the biggest ever year for new school expansion, the ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ network grew again, taking on seven turnaround schools and two new schools. These included our first school in Hastings and another in Portsmouth seeding a new hub on the south coast: ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ All Saints in Camberwell, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Franklin in Kensal Green, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ John Keats in Enfield, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Ayrton in Portsmouth, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Brunel in North Kensington, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Swiftin White City, Priory in Acton and ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Alexandra in Hastings. Helpfully to support this dramatic growth, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Teacher Training was accredited to award Qualified Teacher Status to trainee teachers.

Outside of the UK, the rotavirus vaccination programme, piloted by ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ and its partners in Zambia, rolled out nationally by the Zambian government.

Having seen the impact of child social care through the work of our schools, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ decided to incubate new social work charity Frontline. The first cohort of 104 Frontline trainee social workers begin their training this year at the same time as the first cohort of 51 ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ teacher trainees.

ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ grew again, taking on another three primary turnaround schools on the south coast. ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Blacklands and ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Little Ridge both in Hastings and ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Dickens in Portsmouth. In London, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Elvin, a secondary turnaround school in Wembley, joined the network, as ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ John Keats expanded into a secondary phase.

Outside of the UK, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ partner PEAS opened three new schools in Uganda and the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh adopted ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ’s school inspection programme.

After an impressive first year of operations, social work charity Frontline span out to become an independent charity. ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ also created a joint venture with the NEON Foundation to support the development of Assembly, a new tool for school data.

ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ took on two new turnaround schools in Birmingham: ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Boulton and ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Chamberlain. ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Burlington Danes expanded to take on an existing primary school and ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Byron opened in Acton.

In India, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ opened its first primary school, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Lajpat Nagar in Delhi, in partnership with the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

During this year, there were some big developments in ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Ventures. STiR Education transitioned to full independence and now operates in India, Uganda, Indonesia and Ethiopia. It has reached more than 200,000 teachers and six million children across India and Uganda. Ambition School Leadership formed through a merger between Teaching Leaders and Future Leaders Trust, and we began incubating Now Teach which was set-up to help career-changers retrain as teachers.

ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Paddington Green, another turnaround primary, opened.

ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ India, now operating as Peepul opened two new schools in Amar Colony and Jeevan Nagar while in Hastings a third ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ turnaround primary, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Castledown, opened.

Having realised that ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ would need a new home, the ambitious EdCity project was conceived and kicked off.

As the plans for the EdCity project developed, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ’s network continued to grow. ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Victoria joined the growing Birmingham hub while in London, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Acton, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Greenwich Free School, and ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ John Archer in Clapham all joined the network.

With the location of EdCity now confirmed, the ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ network team moved to While City. There were several mergers of schools to build our all-through capacity and ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ also opened ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Pioneer in Barnet.

Again, our ventures continued to free organisations to independence while taking on new projects. Assembly, the school data venture, transferred to an established provider of services to schools so that it could scale further. The Ambition Institute also launched following merger of Ambition School Leadership and Institute for Teaching. Peepul, formerly ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ India, became independent of ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ and ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Curriculum Plus was created following the merger of Mathematics Mastery and English Mastery.

Like everyone else, this year was dominated by Covid. In a stroke of good fortune, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ’s curriculum programmes migrated onto a new digital platform, My Mastery and ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ was able to contribute significant content to Oak Academy and other partners to make sure learning resources were readily available to students in the network and beyond. A major fundraising push also supported the provision of digital devices.

Despite these challenges, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Blake opened that September in Croydon, and the first ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Start nursery was launched at ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ John Archer in Battersea. Now Teach also spun out as an independent charity.

The pandemic, and eventually the recovery from Covid, continued to dominate our work. We launched a major fundraising drive, with donations matched by the government’s coronavirus fund. This focused on interventions designed to close learning gaps, improve mental health, and continue to support the provision of digital devices for all students in year four and above to ensure access to remote learning opportunities.

Another new school, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Soane, opened in London and the second ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Start nursery opened at ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Oval, Croydon.

Coming after the challenges of the pandemic, the 20th anniversary of the charity was marked with a series of events and celebrations. Despite a pause due to the changing economic conditions, the EdCity project was well underway with building of the school, youth centre, office block and first houses commencing.

Sixteen years after the charity had opened its first school in England, by 2022, ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ was running 39 schools serving over 30,000 children across Birmingham, Hastings, London and Portsmouth.

The EdCity development continued apace with the ‘topping out’ of the office block and the opening of the new ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ White City school building providing big milestones in the year.

The Education Partnerships Group, which had been set-up to provide not-for-profit consultancy to governments looking to strengthen their education systems was spun out into a series of legacy programmes that were taken on by local partners.

In fact, the scale and breadth of ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Ventures had reached such a scale that a new charity was set-up.

Purposeful Ventures was created as a specialist ventures organisation focusing on education and issues affecting children and young people.

In September 2026, Pontefract Academies Trust – a group of 7 primaries and two secondary schools in West Yorkshire – joined the ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ network, bringing the total number of schools to 48.