DCH 46 Eton College
ETON COLLEGE AND PUBLIC BENEFIT
This submission is made
by the Provost of Eton College in the context of the inquiry theme:
"Do fee-paying schools which are charities demonstrate
adequate public benefit arising from their activities?"
1. Scholarships and
Bursaries
1.1. Eton uses its resources
to fund as many scholarships and bursaries as possible in the
belief that good education is a public benefit as well as a benefit
to the individuals concerned.
1.2. Scholarships
1.2.1. 250 out of 1290
boys hold scholarships or bursaries (19.4%)
1.2.2. 70 entry Scholarships
are awarded on academic promise
1.2.3. 40 Music Scholarships
are awarded on entry on musical promise.
1.2.4. 8 Sixth Form Scholarships
for boys from State schools are awarded on academic promise.
1.2.5. 20 Junior Scholarships
for boys from State Primary Schools, awarded on academic promise,
pay for three years at a preparatory school and five years at
Eton. They are means-tested and if necessary cover the full cost.
20 Junior Scholars are at Eton and 12 more in the pipeline at
any one time.
1.2.6. From this year,
most scholarships cover 25% of the School Fee. All of them
may be made up to as much as full fees according to need.
1.2.7. The number of scholarships
has more than doubled in the past 35 years.
1.3. Bursaries
1.3.1. Bursaries are means-tested
assistance with fees. They may be added to Scholarships or given
to boys who would not otherwise be able to afford to come to Eton.
At present 174 boys hold Bursaries (13.5%)
1.3.2. The overall cost
of Scholarships and Bursaries is about £2.8 million per
annum.
2. Educating Other
Students at Eton
2.1. Eton uses its facilities
and teaching expertise for the public benefit by running Summer
Schools mainly during school holidays.
2.2. Universities Summer
School (twenty-second year) provides 120 sixth-form boys and
girls of high ability from State schools with a teaching and tutorial
programme designed to help them towards study at the highest level.
The fee is subsidized to 50% of the cost and is waived if necessary.
2.3. Brent-Eton Summer
School (eleventh year) offers 50 sixth-form boys and girls
from the London borough of Brent a residential programme, free
of charge, designed to bridge the gap between GCSE and Sixth-Form
studies and to encourage them to aspire to good universities.
2.4. Choral Courses
(eighteenth year): three or four residential week-long courses
each summer give singers in the Sixth Form or in their first year
at university the chance to sing at a professional level together.
Courses finish with a public concert or, very often, with a BBC
broadcast.
2.5. Rowing Courses
(eighth year) are offered for a week to youngsters who might
not other wise have the chance to take part in this sport in which
Britain excels.
2.6. So far, more than
4,000 young people have benefited from these courses.
3. Community Capital
Projects
3.1. South Meadow Surgery,
Chapel of Ease and Charteris Day Centre. In 1988
Eton took over the redundant Parish Church and converted it to
multi-purpose use. It houses a sanatorium for the School, a Chapel
for residents of the town of Eton and doctors' surgeries for the
local medical practice. The old surgery was refurbished by the
school as an Old People's Day Centre.
3.2. Thames Valley
Athletic Centre. Eton made over the land (value £2
million) on which Windsor and Maidenhead and Slough Borough Councils
constructed the Thames Valley Athletic Centre with help from local
authority and sports lottery money. Eton has less than 10% use
of the athletics facilities; the public 90%.
3.3. The Rowing Lake,
being built by Eton at the cost of £10 million without
a penny of lottery or public money, is used by more than fifty
school and adult rowing and canoeing clubs and by national squads.
British rowing has long been handicapped by the lack of enough
still water courses. As is made clear by evidence to the Public
Enquiry that sanctioned the scheme, it was envisaged as a public
benefit, not just a school facility. This summer it hosts the
Wallingford Regatta, Marlowe Regatta, Metropolitan Regatta and
Human Race Triathlon. In 2005 it is the venue for a heat of
the World Cup and in 2006 for the finals of the World Championships.
It is part of London's 2012 Olympic bid.
.
4. Helping the Local
Community
4.1. The Chapel is used
for local carol services and charity concerts. The School Hall
and Theatre have recently been made available to:
Slough Philharmonic, Windsor
and Maidenhead Symphony Orchestra, , Royal Free Singers, Ashford
Choral Society, Amersham Festival, Windsor and Eton Operatic Society,
Dorney School, Windsor Cancer Relief, Windsor and Eton Choral
Society, Neurofibromatosis Association, Thames Valley Hospice,
St George's School, Windsor Festival, Windsor and Maidenhead Youth
Theatre Project for Senior Schools, Slough Musical Theatre Group,
Army Benevolent Fund, Royal School of Church Music, Chiltern NADFAS,
Slough Education Action Zone, Susan Handy School of Dance.
4.2. Games fields
to
Chelsea's "Football
in the Community" scheme, England Blind Cricket, Thames Valley
Youth Games, athletes in Olympic training, Windsor Marathon and
Triathlon.
4.3. The Swimming
Pool is regularly used by:
Windsor Boys School, Porny
School, Eton Wick School, PNEU School Datchet, Virginia Water
School, Windsor Maidenhead and Slough Swimming Clubs, Old Windsor
Life-saving Club, Eton ex-Servicemen's Club, Boy Scouts, County
Veterans.
4.4. "Social Service":
Eton boys do social service, particularly as mentors in local
schools, and by visiting old folk and raising money for good causes
through an annual Eton Action Fair and sponsored events.
4.5. The town's pharmacy,
library and Post Office are kept open by Eton College
subsidies.
4.6. Eton is the sole
funder of the Alms Houses and a local Environmental
Fund.
5. Assistance to Schools
locally and abroad
5.1. Slough and Eton Church
of England Secondary School:
5.1.1. grant for sports
hall floor;
5.1.2. grant, and assistance:
music technology teaching;
5.1.3. Eton is sponsoring
financially its bid for Specialist Status.
5.2. Slough Education
Action Zone:
5.2.1. Eton and the Slough
schools have run Music at Eton as a very successful EAZ scheme;
5.2.2. Based on that Eton
and Slough have just won funding for a Partnership Scheme.
5.3. Eton Porny and Eton
Wick Primary Schools:
5.3.1. assistance with
repairs.
5.4. Schools in S. Africa,
Ethiopia, Tanzania, Ghana, Kosovo and Afghanistan.
5.4.1. grants for development.
5.5. Software project,
devised and financed by Eton, makes learning Ancient Greek freely
available on the internet.
6. Religious and Heritage
6.1. Eton shares in the
Patronage of sixteen parish churches and has Chancel Responsibilities
for ten.
6.2. Eton is responsible
for the upkeep of 76 Listed Buildings.
6.3. The historic part
of the school is shown to about 25,000 visitors a year. The Museum
of Eton Life (a registered museum) is open to the public. The
Myers Collection of Egyptian antiquities and College Library are
available to students and scholars.
7. Charitable Status
7.1. Loss of charitable
status by abolition or by raising the Public Benefit bar unreasonably
high would reduce access to the school by cutting the number of
scholarships and bursaries and severely limit the assistance given
to others as outlined above.
Eric Anderson
Provost
14 June 2004
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