£200,000
That’s the value, at least, to the family of one boy of a bursary to attend Whitgift or Trinity independent schools in Croydon through from Year 7 this September all the way to the Upper Sixth.
It’s a life-changing sum of money, for what can be a life-changing opportunity.
We say “at least”, because between now and 2033 there’s likely to be some increases in the fees payable at the schools, which currently stand at £31,410 at Whitgift and £30,468 at Trinity (Whitgift also has boarders, whose families can pay up to £60,000 a year in fees).
And we say “boys”, because since the closure of Old Palace School for girls last July, the Whitgift Foundation’s large independent schools only take boys at the 10+ and 11+ stage of entry (both have girls in their Sixth forms). Although all that is about to change from 2027, when Trinity begins the move to becoming fully co-educational.
It’s invidious to put a price tag on any child’s education, and their future, but the latest figures arise as the Whitgift Foundation has announced it is awarding bursaries to 41 lucky lads due to start at Trinity or Whitgift in the next school year.
Both schools have more than 1,000 pupils. Both employ around 200 teaching staff.
The Foundation says: “Once granted, a bursary award remains available to a pupil for the duration of their education at their Foundation school.” And they add that while these figures relate to new bursaries awarded this year, “the Foundation continues to support existing bursary holders through their education”.
In 2025-2026, the Whitgift Foundation says it spent in excess of £5million on its bursary scheme for pupils at Whitgift and Trinity schools, and for some former Old Palace School bursary recipients at schools outside the Foundation, who had moved because of the closure of their school.
School days: Whitgift is among the country’s leading independent secondaries
The money to pay these grants is being funded through a combination of the Foundation’s income, the Trinity Bursary Fund, and something called “Whitgift for All”.
Of the 41 recipients for September 2026, 25 are Croydon kids.
These bursaries are means-tested, meaning that the boys’ family incomes are assessed when deciding whether they should have their fees paid.
The means-tested awards for the 2026-2027 school year total £760,000 and have been allocated as follows:
- Whitgift Foundation has awarded bursaries to 32 new pupils (£571,000)
- Trinity School has awarded bursaries to six Croydon pupils (£128,000) through the Trinity School Bursary Fund
- Whitgift School has awarded three bursaries to Croydon pupils (£61,000) through its Whitgift for All programme. This is the first time Whitgift School has made such an award.
The Foundation has offered eight free places (full fee remission) to pupils at its two schools. A further seven pupils are receiving bursaries which cover more than 90% of their school fees.
It is suggested that the number of bursaries awarded this year are at least 15 fewer than were being granted when Old Palace was still accepting Year 7 entrants. Old Palace tended to have a socially more diverse intake, and in some years would have 20 new pupils on bursaries – given the school’s smaller size relative to the boys’ school, making the proportion of bursary pupils at Old Palace higher.
The relative reduction in bursaries reflects the reduction in income that the Whitgift Foundation has suffered as a consequence of the decline in its commercial property income in respect of the 14-year development blight inflicted on Croydon town centre, and the Foundation-owned shopping centre, by Westfield.
Today, Roisha Hughes, the Foundation’s chief executive, told Inside Croydon: “Bursary provision is at the heart of the Whitgift Foundation’s purpose. Together, the Foundation, Trinity School and Whitgift School are committed to expanding access to education. Providing means-tested bursary support for more than 10% of our pupils is crucial to our mission and helps make our schools the very special places they are.”
Currently, 114 pupils at Whitgift School are in receipt of a means-tested bursary, receiving £2.15million in support from the Foundation; 147 pupils at Trinity School are in receipt of a means-tested bursary (receiving about £2.6million, of which £2 million is funded by the Foundation and the remainder by the Trinity Bursary Fund).
“Following the closure of Old Palace Senior School in 2025, the Foundation committed to continuing to support bursary recipients now attending other schools. In 2025-2026, 40 girls were supported with bursaries totalling £904,000.”
Paul Cleal is the chair of the Palace for Life Foundation and the FA’s head of strategic development. Cleal was one of those boys who received a bursary, to attend Trinity School.
Opportunity: Paul Cleal was able to attend Trinity School on a bursary
“Receiving a bursary was life-changing for me,” Cleal says.
“It gave me a quality of education that we could never have afforded, but more importantly, allowed me to access opportunities, for example, through sport and travel, that helped me to develop as a person.
“The impact of the bursary has endured throughout my career, and the appreciation of the difference it made has always encouraged me to invest in and support young people to realise their potential.”
Read more: £40m Trinity School expansion given planning green light
Read more: Old Palace closure brought on by shaky Foundation finances
Read more: Falling rolls and rising fees: how Old Palace got squeezed
Under The Flyover is our podcast interview strand, premium content, usually exclusively available to paying subscribers who support Inside Croydon’s independent journalism, based in the heart of Croydon.- We interviewed Fiona Fletcher-Smith of the Whitgift Foundation last year, asking a range of questions about the closure of girls’ school Old Palace and the long-delayed redevelopment of the Whitgift Centre shopping mall.
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I have family in Abingdon-on-Thames, now in Oxfordshire (the town is still sulking as it used to be the county town of Berkshire), which used to have one private boys’ school (Abingdon school) and two girls’ schools (Our Lady – Catholic, and St. Helen’s & St. Katharine’s – C of E, which has the same spelling of Katharine as in Croydon). Boys also have Radley College only a few miles away, and there are three co-ed state secondary schools in the town. Our Lady has closed fairly recently, and now Abingdon School has announced that it is going co-ed from Sept 2026, which is similar to Trinity school in Croydon.