Trust gifts record £150,000 to pupils, schools and college

AN educational charity in Henley has handed out its highest ever amount in support of students, schools, and educational projects this year.

The Henley Educational Trust contributed a total of £150,703 towards supporting children and educational projects in the town between 2024 to 2025.

The charity helps individual pupils with grants towards a variety of school-based needs, including musical tuition, uniforms, educational trips and sporting activities.

It also gives grants to the state schools and The Henley College on an annual basis, based on pupil numbers, and a larger grant to the Henley Partnership of Schools to be shared between Gillotts School and the state-funded primary schools for specific shared projects.

The total amount given out by the trust marks an increase on previous years, where £135,183 was provided in 2024 and £121,559 in 2023.

In total, this year 149 individuals received grants totalling £46,729, £54,716 was given to the Henley Partnership of Schools for a counselling programme while the the primary and secondary schools in Henley received £35,650 between them. Each school in Henley can apply for a grant.

The Henley College and other educational organisations, such as sports groups, received £13,608.

The trust gets its money from a variety of assets, including a property in Duke Street, with the ground-floor currently rented out to sportswear shop Sweaty Betty and the floors above to THP Solicitors.

The partnership also has an investment portfolio, which is looked after by Redmayne Bentley, an investment management company based in Market Place.

Amanda Heath, the chair of trustees, said that while it was true that demand had risen in some areas, the increase in spending had come as the trust had taken the decision to spend more of its reserves. She said that at the beginning of the year, the trust had decided to take £10,000 from its reserves.

Ms Heath said that the charity had met all of its requests and had taken the decision to give more directly to the schools.

“We made a conscious decision as the trustees to hand out a bit more this year,” she said.

Without the trust support, Ms Heath said that the Henley schools would have no counselling or educational psychology support.

She said: “Around 2010 and 2012 that was funded by the government and now all of that has been removed.

“The fact that we can fund that and the teachers say it’s really vital for the wellbeing of their students is really positive.

“Because of austerity, the education system has cut so many of these other things which are so beneficial. It’s a real privilege that we can step in and still fund it."

Ms Heath said that the number of individual grants awarded has risen compared to before the coronavirus pandemic.

In recent years, this growth has continued steadily, with 140 grants awarded last year, 143 in 2023 and 149 this year.

Ms Heath said that for many, Henley is seen as a wealthy town, but there are a lot of families struggling to make ends meet. She said: “In the pre-covid years, we were struggling to spend a third of our income on individuals, whereas now we are spending that.

“We have seen quite a significant increase in applications for individuals and families in need.”

Town Councillor Michelle Thomas, who is a trustee of the charity, said that the need for the trust was growing every year.

She said: “Everyone always presumes that Henley is one of those towns that wouldn’t need a trust like this but I can assure you that it does.

“Since 2010, when austerity kicked in followed by even more austerity in 2017, the schools are still not back to the funding that they used to receive from central government.

“There is a huge need and, with the rise in the cost of living, we’ve seen the individual grant giving go up and up and up every year.”

The trust has existed in one form or another since 1604 from various endowments to provide confidential local educational support for needy families. For more information, visit www.henleyeducational
trust.com