Foundation Office

Welcome

The Foundation Office was founded in 2018 with a view to engaging with the wider Blue Coat Community. This includes Old Blues, Parents, Past Parents, Former members of Staff and Friends of the School. Over the years we have also been tasked with fundraising for the School and were delighted to launch our first fundraising campaign in 2022.

The ‘Defined by Vision. United by Ambition’ Campaign continues Aldworth’s legacy and is raising funds to increase our bursary provision. As well as all this, we run an annual events programme for the community, produce our annual alumni magazine ‘1646’ and run our networking platform ‘Reading Blue Coat Connect. You can read about all this (and more!) on this page and if you want to know more, please do not hesitate to get in touch: e: foundation@rbcs.org.uk t: 0118 9335889. You can also update your details here.

 

Sarah Bunnell-Pyper, Foundation Director

Having worked in Development in Oxford for several years, Sarah came to Blue Coat in 2018 to help set up the Foundation Office. Sarah had the pleasure of meeting many of the community through the events programme that she set up and ran. She also revamped the alumni magazine to become ‘1646’ and launched and ran Reading Blue Coat Connect.

In 2021, Sarah became the Foundation Director and is delighted to have been able to launch our fundraising campaign, ‘Defined by Vision. United by Ambition,’ and looks forward to meeting with those who are interested in giving a gift to the School. Sarah can be contacted via email: spy@rbcs.org.uk or phone: 0118 9335 875.

 

Louise Smith, Foundation Manager

Louise’s career to date has pre-dominantly been in the Financial Services sector first as a Management Consultant before transitioning into Event Management, a field she is incredibly passionate about.

Louise’s role as Foundation Manager oversees the Old Blue events programme. This ranges from year group reunions to the Daniels Cup Festival of Sport and everything in between. Louise has also recently taken over from Sarah as the Editor of 1646. Louise can be contacted via email; lms@rbcs.org.uk or phone 0118 9335 889.

 

Visiting the School

We are always delighted to welcome Old Blues and their families back to the School to visit, take a trip down memory lane and see how the School has changed over the years.

However, it is essential that you let us know that you would like to come back by booking a specific date and time. This is for safeguarding reasons as visitors to the School site must be accompanied at all times. We also want to ensure you get the most out of your visit and would be very pleased to give you a proper tour of the School as many changes have taken place, even in the last few years!

In order to do this we need to make sure someone from the Foundation Office is available to assist you.  You can enquire about a visit to the School site by emailing Foundation Manager, Louise Smith on lms@rbcs.org.uk and she would be delighted to help in any way she can.

Please note that if you do not book a visit to the School and just turn up on any given day, you may be turned away and asked to contact Louise to make a booking. Thank you for your understanding, we look forward to welcoming you back to Holme Park very soon!

Update your Details

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2022, almost exactly 362 years to the day since the first students walked through the doors of the then Aldworth Hospital, the School launched their first fundraising campaign. With the aim of raising 4 million in 10 years to double our bursary recipients at the School, this is no small feat. However, we know that with your help we can reach this goal and help to transform young peoples’ lives through a Blue Coat education.

Please visit our campaign page to find out more.

 

Read more about the campaign 

Download our Gift Form

Make a Regular Gift

We are delighted to introduce ‘Stories of Ambition’ as part of our ‘Defined by Vision, United by Ambition’ fundraising campaign.

What is clear to see is that, whilst our individual stories might be different, we are united by the same ambition: To build the best possible future for the School we love and to make a Blue Coat education a reality for more young people.

Reading Blue Coat Connect

As an Old Blue, we are delighted to invite you to join Reading Blue Coat Connect- the official networking platform for the Reading Blue Coat School Community.

You can sign up in less than two minutes by importing your Linkedin or Facebook profile or using your email address.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact Foundation Manager, Louise Smith on lms@rbcs.org.uk.

Reading Blue Coat Connect enables you to:

  • Re-connect – Find and reminisce with classmates, see what they have been up to and stay in touch.
  • Give back – Introduce, employ and be a mentor to our recent leavers and those looking for a career change.
  • Expand – Leverage your professional network to get introduced to people you should know.
  • Get ahead – Advance your career through inside connections working in top companies and access to exclusive opportunities. 

                                           Join now

Upcoming Events

The Foundation Office and the Headmaster are delighted to welcome back Old Blues to the School for events at the School. Do keep an eye out on the website and social media pages for more information on these events when we can safely accommodate you here at School. To see pictures from past events, please take a look at our gallery at the bottom of this page. If you have any questions or would like to get involved with helping to run an event, please contact the Foundation Manager, Louise Smith (lms@rbcs.org.uk).

 

 

ROBA

The Reading Old Blues Association was founded in 1905 and is still going strong today. The Committee meets twice a term and is made up of Old Blues from across the years. As well as the famous Annual ROBA Dinner, the committee help run the Daniels Cup Festival of Sport and its various sports matches throughout the year. The Foundation Office are delighted to work closely with the committee and the ROBA President who often attends School functions such as the Carol Service and Remembrance Day as a representative of the Old Blues community. A list of committee members can be found here.

Scheduled committee meetings 

Monday 11 November 2024, 19:30, Cricket Pavilion Reading Blue Coat

Monday 13 January 2025, 19:30, Cricket Pavilion Reading Blue Coat

Monday 10 March 2025, 19:30, Cricket Pavilion Reading Blue Coat

Monday 12 May 2025, 19:30, Cricket Pavilion Reading Blue Coat

1646

The alumni magazine

We are thrilled to share the alumni magazine, 1646, with you. Formerly the Old Blues News, this annual magazine takes a more editorial approach and if you would like to write an article for the magazine about your field, then please contact the editor, Louise Smith (lms@rbcs.org.uk). If you have any news of specific achievements, births, deaths or marriages please also contact Louise. For more general updates about what you have been doing since you left School, please visit Reading Blue Coat Connect and post an update and connect with other Old Blues. You can also read previous issues of the magazine online here.

Read 1646 online:

Issue 1   Issue 2   Issue 3   Issue 4

Old Blues Gallery

Old Blue Andy Wroe (2017)

Old blue Andy, one of the stars of Blue Coat's Tech Crew during his time at the School, stage managed School productions starting with the Junior Drama production of "Aladdin" in 2014. Director of Drama, Mrs Coccia Clark, commented, on the final night of the 2016 production of "Grease": "Andy is such a good Stage Manager, I often forget he's still a student; he's good enough to work in the West End". The West End is one of the places Andy says he'd like to work - the other being as a set designer for live concerts - but, in the meantime, he was given an unconditional offer to study Technical Theatre and Stage Management at RADA (the Royal Academy of Dramatic...

Old Blue Edward Reeve (2013)

Old Blue Edward Reeve (2013) has been playing the piano since the age of seven, completing his Diploma of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music when he was 14. He gained the Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music at the end of 2011 with distinction, achieving the same qualification on the organ in July 2014. Edward is a past recipient of the Sheila Mossman Award, and was twice successful in completing the Regional Auditions for the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. While he was at Blue Coat, Edward achieved 11 A*s and two short course A*s in his GCSEs, and A*s in Music, Chemistry and German – and an A in English - at A Level....

Old Blue Francesca Williams (2016)

Old Blue Francesca Williams (2016) has been representing her country at netball since before she joined Blue Coat in 2014. When she was in Year 12, she was selected for the England U21 squad (having played for the U19 squad the year before), which won the U21 Europe title, and toured Australia. At the time, Francesca played for various local teams – including the Western Park Blades, Team South, Surrey Storm – and Blue Coat’s A team, who were county champions in 2015.  The School’s netball coach Mrs Claire Dance says: ‘Fran is an excellent player and was a real asset to our A squad. She had the ability to change the game to our advantage. Fran’s biggest strength is her ability...

Old Blue Ben Freeman (2019)

Ben was at Blue Coat from Year 7, and took full advantage of everything that the School had to offer him. A 1st VIII rower, a member of the Navy section of the CCF, and a member of the chorus in the School's musical production, "Little Shop of Horrors", Ben was a public speaker, who came 17th in the Impromptu Speaking category at an international public speaking competition in Canada in October 2018. Ben is an accomplished artist who hopes to start a side business selling prints of his impressive wildlife paintings. One of Ben's Blue Coat highlights was the German trip to Berlin in Year 9 because, he says, "it was an incredible cultural experience and a lot of fun".  He...

Old Blue Emily Aldridge (2020)

Emily joined Blue Coat in September 2018, not just because her twin Isaac was already here, but because she was looking for a challenge. Emily studied Music as an A Level subject; she took her Grade 7 examinations in piano and singing, and taught herself to play the guitar. She was also in the inaugural Girls' Chamber Choir and played a member of the girls' group in the Blue Coat senior production of 'Little Shop of Horrors'. Emily was an active member of the School Council, which involved talking to her peers about school issues and discussing possible changes. She also worked towards her Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award, which included an expedition to Nepal. Emily's other A Level subjects were Chemistry...

Old Blue Oliver Pink (2020)

Old Blue and Former Head Boy Oliver Pink joined Blue Coat in Year 9 and hit the ground running! In the October half-term of his first year, Oli climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in London - and he finished Year 11 by travelling to Ghana with Blue Coat, to learn about Ghanaian culture, and to work on the refurbishment of a classroom building at the local school in Ankwanda village. "It was like a rollercoaster of emotions", Oli says of the experience. "It made me feel so lucky about everything I have in my life at home, but it was hard work. It was also so much fun, and has given me some of...
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