Trinity School launches new Golden Jubilee Bursary Fund

02 Feb 2015

In 1965 Trinity School moved to its present site from Croydon’s North End to make way for the Whitgift Shopping Centre. To mark its 50th anniversary of being located at Shirley Park Trinity is launching a campaign to raise £5 million to fund 50 new bursaries.
Peter Marshall, Trinity German & Latin Teacher from 1968 to 1984The School was founded by John Whitgift over 400 years ago and is still part of the Whitgift Foundation, one of the largest education charities in the UK, who make available a generous programme of scholarships and bursaries. In spite of this, every year it receives applications from prospective pupils who fully meet the entrance criteria and who would thrive at Trinity but who, because of personal circumstances and limitations of school finances, cannot be placed. The new Trinity Bursary Fund will ensure that the School can reach out to more pupils than ever before.
Just in its initial pre-launch phase, the campaign has already attracted donations from a number of alumni as well as past and present parents and staff to the tune of £313,000. Headmaster Mark Bishop who is spearheading the campaign said: “I am immensely grateful to those individuals who have already given. I am certain that we can meet our ambitious target so that together we can transform more lives for generations to come.”
Trinity Old Boy and Croydon-based entrepreneur Dr Barry MacEvoy, who has a distinguished career at Imperial and CERN (Large Hadron Collider), is an early supporter of the campaign: “Education should be needs blind, where tuition is available on the basis of ability and potential, not the capacity to pay. That is why I am proud to give both my money and my time in support of this campaign.”
A generous donation in memory of Peter Marshall, who taught at Trinity from 1968 to 1984, from his brother shows just how much former staff, as well as pupils, are attached to their school. This has prompted current teacher and Old Boy, Bill Tucker, to remember him fondly: “The school experiences that shape us are, for most, an extraordinarily complex mix. Peter’s examples of kindness, professionalism and commitment as a tutor were significant ingredients in the potent cocktail that I was fortunate enough to enjoy. He would be both embarrassed and delighted to know that the 50th anniversary bursary scheme now provides a means by which the generous principles he espoused can be given a new lease of life in his name.”