Bancroft’s Foundation

Bancroft’s School was founded in 1737 at the bequest of Francis Bancroft, a businessman and member of the Drapers' Company, who left a legacy for the Drapers’ Livery Company to create a school for ‘a hundred poor boys aged between seven and fifteen’.

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Originally in Mile End, Bancroft’s relocated to its current site in 1889 and continued to offer up to 50 free places. This tradition of being partly a fee-paying and partly a fee-assisted school continues to this day, but the demise of the Direct Grant Scheme and its replacement, the Government Assisted Places Scheme,  meant that we are unable to offer as many free or fee-assisted places as we would like.

The Bancroft’s Foundation was launched in 2012 to mark the school’s 275th anniversary, with the sole purpose of generating funds to create new Assisted Places. Since the launch we have been fortunate in raising over £2 million in donations, pledges and legacies from members of the wide Bancroft’s community and also by a generous additional donation from the Drapers’ Company. This has enabled the school to double the number of pupils receiving Assisted Places and our ambition is to continue to raise funds for even more.

Our vision is to return Bancroft’s to our founding principles and to attract a far greater number of our pupils from a diverse range of backgrounds. We very much hope that you will be able to support us in our aim to enable pupils from the most disadvantaged backgrounds to benefit from the outstanding education that Bancroft’s continues to offer.

For more information on the Bancroft’s Foundation, please contact:

020 8506 5714

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