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Projects| Parents and Alumni > Development Office >Projects |
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Bedales: the innovation continues Bedales has always experimented, and adapted to the needs of the time. Our founder, J H Badley, did not have a single, fixed system of education. Co-education, for example, was introduced five years after the school was established. In 2006 alone we are introducing a new curriculum for ages 14–16, because (to borrow phrase from Badley) we believe GCSE “simply won’t do”; and we are committing £0.4 million to improvements in the public spaces at Dunhurst, and to converting the barn (‘La Grange’) at Dunannie into a wonderful new room for the Nursery. Innovation will continue: it is ingrained. The school and its governors are developing a ten-year plan to ensure that we have the best possible staff, facilities and support to underpin our educational aims. Four major projects are planned. The Orchard Development Phase 2: new studios for Art, Design & Technology. Making sure that the facilities match up to the quality of creativity and talent. more ... Lupton Hall A study centre for interactive, IT-based and collaborative learning, to complement the Memorial Library. more ... A new Music School Music permeates the school. New facilities are needed to cope with growing numbers of musicians and new types of music making. more ... Scholarships for gifted children Short-term and long-term support for talented students whose parents would not otherwise be able to afford the fees. more ... If you would like to be part of these developments – or to discuss other possibilities – please contact us. Tax concessions can increase the value (or decrease the cost) of your benefaction. more ... Your gift could be used to commemorate your own name or someone else’s. Please ask about the options. The Orchard Development replaces buildings that were meant to be temporary forty years ago. It provides modern, well-equipped spaces for teaching, learning and meeting. And it redefines the orchard – the green space at the heart of the school – by opening up clear lines of sight between the major buildings, including the Memorial Library and the Olivier Theatre. The first phase, the construction of the award-winning Orchard Building for teaching and administration, was completed on time and on budget in August 2005. The building has already proved itself to be functional, stylish, economical and humane – both in its feel and in the way it is used by students and staff alike. To read more, click here. The second phase of the Orchard Development will house Art, Design & Technology. Bedales has an enviable record in producing artists and crafts people who are known for their creativity and the high quality of their work. New, custom-built studios will help to secure this tradition for the future. For example, Textiles, in the Design department, has had a great deal of success with students taking Design A-level. We have a unique opportunity, even an obligation, to maintain our position at the forefront of arts education. There will be an opportunity to bring in new disciplines, such as digital film and animation; however, the central emphasis for all of the departments will still be on high-quality designing and making. The estimated cost of Phase 2 is £4.4 million. We want to restore the Lupton Hall to its place at the core of the school. Since the opening of the Olivier Theatre it has served less often for performances; and it is used less often for meetings, because it can no longer accommodate all students at once. We will of course preserve the building’s Grade I listed structure but re-house the original benches elsewhere and use the hall to complement the adjoining Memorial Library. The library will continue to be used for quiet book-based study; the Lupton Hall will provide new space for interactive, IT-based and collaborative learning. The redevelopment of the Lupton Hall will be dedicated to the memory of Alison Willcocks, Head of Bedales until 2000. The estimated cost is £340,000. Bedales was encouraging staff and students to enjoy and practise music at a time when other schools were still spending their extra-curricular energies on rugby. Music is still central to the life of the school, but the present 50-year-old Music School is now too small to meet the demand. New facilities are also needed for newer interests, including rock music, computer-based composition and audio and video recording. Sound insulation needs to be improved. Building afresh is more economical than extending and repairing the present building. We already have planning consent for a single-storey building, on the same site, that is 75% larger. Wooden cladding will link it visually to the Olivier Theatre and the new Orchard Building nearby. The new Music School will be a focal point of the orchard, the calm open space at the core of the school, which will be extended up to the new building. It will reinforce the attraction of Bedales to talented music-makers. The estimated cost is £4.4 million. Scholarships for gifted children Bedales has a long history of offering support to children whose parents would not otherwise have been able to afford the fees. We currently devote about 5% of gross fee income to scholarships and bursaries. The Bedales Grants Trust Fund (BGTF) was established primarily to assist children of Old Bedalians; thanks to generous donations, its assets now exceed £1million. We seek to increase the BGTF endowment so that we can support a substantial number of students from any background. Taking the BGTF and the school’s own fee assistance programme together, we shall be able to provide continuity of education for talented new students who could not otherwise afford the full fees, and to provide emergency support for families who meet unexpected hardship. Getting the most out of your donation Bedales Schools are a charity, registered number 307332. Donations can attract tax concessions that increase their value to us, or decrease their cost to you. UK taxpayers If you sign a Gift Aid declaration, we can reclaim tax that you have paid on your gift. This applies to both one-off and regular gifts. For every £100 you give to us in this way, HM Revenue & Customs gives us an extra £28.20 at no cost to you. In addition, higher-rate taxpayers can reclaim the difference between the lower and higher tax rates on donations. For every £100 given, higher-rate taxpayers can reduce their own tax bill by £23.08. If you give us shares, you will receive income tax relief at 100% of their market value, and you will avoid capital gains tax liability. Similar relief is available on gifts of land. In all the above cases, conditions apply: we advise you to check first, either with us or with your accountant. Some companies will match charitable gifts by their employees. This can double or even triple the value of the gift. Check with your Human Resources Department. US residents and US taxpayers We are affiliated with The American Fund for Charities, a 501(c)3 charity in the US. Gifts made through The American Fund are tax-deductible to the full extent of US law.
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