Merchant Taylors' School Bursaries

Thoughts from Stephen Wright, Head Master 2004 - 2013

There is, framed and hanging on the wall in a small primary school in North West London, a letter to the parents of one of its pupils offering a 100% bursary to attend Merchant Taylors’ School. This is for a boy who would not otherwise have been able to contemplate a MTS career and who, although he has only recently joined us, will almost certainly be an academic leader in the community in the years to come and will throw himself energetically into everything that the School has to offer in terms of wider opportunities. His primary school has every cause to be proud of him.

Nor is he alone – there are now eight boys in the School who are on 100% bursaries and all are doing well. Not all are at the top of the academic tree – this was never the intention as the only criteria that were established for eligibility for this level of bursary support, were that they the individual should qualify for entry to the school and that he would benefit from an MTS education. But all current recipients are thriving, are making real progress and, in very different ways, are developing as key members of the School. It is important to remember too that, in addition to these boys, there are a significant number in each year who have their fees subsidised to a level that is not far short of 100%.

In encouraging bursary applicants in this way the School is being entirely true to its origins which in 1561 saw the 100 free and 50 subsidised places for boys to be educated in what was then the largest school in Elizabethan England. The history books show that sons of fletchers, saddlers, innkeepers and bowyers were taught alongside those of gentlemen and of members of the Merchant Taylors’ Company. This social mix worked then and it does today – especially given the inherently tolerant nature of all those who are part of the MTS family. Long may it remain so!

Four years ago the Governors, wisely, decided that the day of the Scholarships awarded solely on merit, and without any means-testing, was over and that funds should be diverted instead to bursary provision. This has enabled us to add considerably to the financial assistance we could offer, as has the incredible support that we have received from the Merchant Taylors’ Company, parents, OMTs and school staff. Whilst the ultimate aim is to create a substantial endowment, year on year gifts are now funding three dedicated full bursaries and, through the medium of the Annual Fund benefactions, significant other bursary support too.

There is a school of thought that suggests that the taking such boys out of the state system is not the best way to further overall educational development in England and that, instead, independent schools should work with their state counterparts in ways that would benefit more than just the single pupil. I used to subscribe to such a view but, in reality, the unevenness of provision in the public sector means that there is a great chance of talent being lost or wasted were it not adopted by independent schools. We do, and will continue to, work positively with state schools – our partnership with The Harefield Academy has produced substantial and mutual benefits for some years now, and we work closely with the South Oxhey Primary Schools with activities such as reading schemes and support for sport and Music – most recently we are working on a joint art project. We are now part of the SHINE initiative to provide Saturday School for able children from local schools.

But the bottom line is that such valuable and worthy activity does not change lives – bursaries do. The many Middlesex and Hertfordshire Scholars in middle of the last century would certainly vouch for this, as would those more recent recipients of government Assisted Places and, indeed, our own bursary holders in the more immediate past. There is a history to be told of just how much difference such an opportunity made and in time it will be, but there can be no doubt in my mind that the School must continue to make accessibility to a MTS education a priority. As Tony Little, the Head Master of Eton, recently observed – he would want there to be a time when state schools are so strong that there would be no need for the special and expert education provided by independent schools – but that time is not with us yet.

Such a view is reinforced by the constituency of our own school. All stakeholders from Governors, through parents, staff, OMTs to current pupils are almost as one in their support of the School’s bursary programme - this is not always the case in other establishments. It is something on which we are building and which we must continue to build. Though one is instinctively reluctant to follow the lead from across the pond, the American culture of past students providing financial assistance to those joining their former place of learning is one that we would do well to emulate, and we have made a good start. There is, as there is always is, much more to be done and we need the support from all stakeholders to make our high aspirations into reality.

For our part, we will continue to ensure that recipients of such awards are both deserving of, and in the position to take advantage of, a place at MTS, that their transition to the school community is carefully managed to make it as seamless as possible, and that they are able to access the full range of opportunities that are available to them, just as to other MTS pupils.

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