1646 – Issue 3

A portrait of Richard Aldworth, the School’s first benefactor and the man whose vision lies at the heart of our culture today. Foundation Director Sarah Bunnell-Pyper and Foundation Manager Louise Smith 6 I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce you to the Foundation Office and our latest venture which I hope many of you will get involved with. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Sarah Bunnell-Pyper and I am the Foundation Director here at Reading Blue Coat. I have worked at the School for four years as the Foundation Manager and in the summer of 2021 was appointed as Foundation Director. Prior to that, I worked in Development in a college as part of the University of Oxford and I also have a background in theatre and performing arts. I have had the pleasure of meeting many of you over the years but I know there are still many of you I am yet to meet! I hope that we can rectify this in the coming years and that you will come back to the School for an event or a tour. Old Blues and their families are always welcome at the School, no matter how long it might have been since your last visit! I must say, it really is a true pleasure to witness friends reuniting and to hear your many interesting, and often laughter inducing, stories. I also have the pleasure of introducing you to my colleague, Louise Smith, who joined the Foundation Office in January this year. Louise joins with previous knowledge of the School having married Old Blue, Adrian Smith who boarded at Blue Coat and left in 2002. Louise has an event management background previously in Financial Services and has really enjoyed running the Old Blue events programme and having the opportunity to meet and engage with many Old Blues in recent months. What we do though isn’t just about events and engagement, there’s more work to be done and I’m delighted to be able to tell you a bit more about that in the following pages. By its definition, Schools’ development is professional fundraising and engagement and is the process by which schools seek to engage with their alumni, parents and other stakeholders to generate support in all its forms and to help advance the school’s strategic objectives. On 26 March 2022, it was the School’s 362 year anniversary of the first students at Aldworth’s Hospital walking through the doors for their first day at school and it is when Richard Aldworth’s legacy became a reality. Aldworth was a wealthy merchant who, like many others at the time, felt it was his civic duty to do what he could to help others gain a proper education. As such, in 1646, he drew up his Will with the view to creating a free school for young boys in the Reading area who could then go on to apprenticeships and as such create a better life for themselves and their families. It is quite remarkable to think that Aldworth’s legacy has endured the test of time and I often think about what he would make of the School today. Of course, there are a great many changes that have taken place over the course of our rich and long history. The introduction of fees in 1919, moving to Holme Park in 1947, the introduction of girls in 1987, boarding ceasing in 2001 and our announcement to be fully co-ed by 2027 to name but a few! But ultimately one thing has always remained and that is the School still continues to provide opportunities to young people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to come to this wonderful school. Over the years I have spoken to many Old Blues who have said “Blue Coat changed my life” “I owe everything to Blue Coat” “I wouldn’t be where I am today without a Blue Coat education” and I hope that those sentiments ring true for many of you reading this. In many of these cases this is made possible through our bursary programme and through this fundraising campaign it is our ambition that we increase this provision to provide evenmore transformative opportunities. But it isn’t just those who receive a bursary whose lives are changed. All of those who have links to our institution know just how important community is at Blue Coat and when that community is truly diverse, we can see it has a hugely positive impact on everyone. Everyone has been affected in some way by recent events that have unfolded in the last few years. For some families this has meant that hard decisions have had to be made and the reality is that some extremely talented and deserving young people miss out. As such it is becoming increasingly clear that we have a moral duty to try and change this, in any way we can. You can also be part of this journey and monumental moment in the School’s history as we launch our first ever fundraising campaign. We