"Belief begins to build": A Story of Transformational Bursaries
Transformational Bursaries
For those growing up in Preston, a short hop from the M6 but with no sight of the major cities of Manchester or Liverpool on the horizon, the world of top-level boarding schools seems remote. Yet, through the success of one, then another, belief begins to build.
After winning an Orwell Award, Daniel was the first to go to Eton College. He flourished, and is now reading English at St. John’s College, Oxford. Will went next. He’d heard a rumour that a boy got into Eton the previous year but, mild-mannered as he is, didn’t mention anything. I did. He checked, and the deadline was three days away.
Due to his industry, determination and a dose of serendipity, the application was sent just in time. To my disbelief, another email landed in early December announcing his success.
Will went on to become a member of Eton’s Sixth Form Select, one of the highest academic honours an Etonian can achieve. This is made all the more impressive considering most boys who achieve this accolade have five years of Eton behind them; he only had two.
Word then spread. Students were talking about boys who’d gone to Eton and others wanted it too.
Then, a girl named Erin asked, in simple but cutting terms, the inevitable question: ‘What about us?’ She was right.
She epitomised the sense that her gender and her aspirations had limits, and she believed strongly that they should not.
With that, Cheltenham Ladies’ College entered the frame.
Through hard work and determination, our partnership with Cheltenham forged the way for two girls, Erin and Lola, to take those first steps into a new world: they were awarded transformational bursaries for their post-16 study, via CLC's Beale Award. Along with a further boy, Joel, who succeeded in winning an Orwell Award to Eton that year alongside them, these five students have shown that there is a place for anyone deserving, regardless of background, in the highest achieving environments.
Further still, these five students have now got prospects and opportunities that they never dreamed possible, yet ones which have simply allowed them to fulfil their already huge potential.
Awarding a student a transformational bursary is not simply a catalyst to academic success. It is far more than that.
It is an opportunity to meet others from different cultures and communities, often from places and lives that have only previously existed through a screen.
It is a gateway to resources and opportunities that would not be possible, or simply do not exist, to someone in their geographical or economic position.
It is a reprieve for parents who must decide which hobbies to stop, whether the music lessons need to be cut or whether the bus to the college they really wanted to go to is too expensive or too far from home.
It removes limits.
Playing a small part in these successes is undoubtedly my proudest professional achievement. I strongly believe that one of the greatest endeavours we can strive for is to pave the way for those who have the will and the skill, but not the means. Once the doorway is opened, the pathways are endless.
Mr Sean Henderson,
Head of English - All Hallows Catholic High School
Giving Day 2026
We're fundraising for Beale Awards (bursaries) during our next Giving Day, on 17th and 18th June 2026.
To make an early donation, or find out more, please visit our Giving Day site below.
Every donation, big or small, will make a difference and help to provide transformational bursaries.
- For Fearless
- Futures
- Thinking
- Innovation
- Enterprise
- Creativity
- Women
- Questions
- Ideas
- Friendships
- Minds
- Learning