Funding for Secondary Schools & Sixth form Colleges in the UK

The foundation awards grants towards capital projects that help schools to create and improve these facilities.

Funding Information

• Usual grant range:
  • £(for new build and refurbishment)
• Maximum grant amount: £100,000
• Minimum grant amount: £15,000
• Funding covers: New build, refurbishment and technical equipment
• Match funding required:
  • If total project cost is <£50,000, no match funding is required
  • If total project cost is >£50,000, some matched funds should be in place. They do not require a specific amount of matched funds for projects on this scale, but they want to see that enough funding is in place to make the project viable and deliverable.
  • If total project cost is >£1 million, 25% match funding is required.

Ineligible Funding

• Examples of ineligible projects and costs include:
  • Musical instruments
  • General auditorium refurbishments
  • General IT infrastructure and classrooms
  • Library facilities
  • Sports facilities
  • General building improvements
  • Purchase of land or existing buildings (including a building’s freehold)
  • Grants direct to individuals
  • Grants through conduit organisations
  • Overheads, maintenance costs and VAT
  • Non-specific appeals (including circulars) and endowment funds
  • Costs of meetings, exhibitions, concerts, expeditions, conferences, lectures, etc.
  • Salary costs
  • Running costs, including vehicle fuel and maintenance
  • Film, websites or promotional materials
  • Repayment of loans
  • Projects that have already been completed or will be by the time of award.

Eligibility Criteria

• Who can apply:
  • State-funded secondary schools and sixth form colleges
• Your school or college should:
  • be state funded
  • have at least two years of exam results available
  • have been inspected by Ofsted / Estyn / HMIE / ETI and have an overall outcome of ‘Good’ or above
  • be able to demonstrate an achieved level of excellence OR significant progress towards excellence through, for example, inspection reports and progress made by students
  • if a predominantly denominational or faith-based school, it should have a non-discriminatory entry policy in respect of religious allegiance with at least 10% of pupils of other denominations, faiths or none.
• In assessing the excellence of a school or college they also consider the local context, including deprivation measures and previous Wolfson support in the same region within the last five years.
• Your project must:
  • cost at least £25,000
  • be for new build, refurbishment work or technical equipment
  • be focussed on the teaching of one or more of the following subjects at GCSE and A-Level: science, computer science, design & technology, art, languages, music and performing arts and have one or more of the following aims:
    • improved quality of teaching and learning spaces for subjects which require specialist facilities and technical equipment
    • increased numbers of students taking these subjects
    • improved learning outcomes for students taking these subjects.

For more information, visit The Wolfson Foundation.