The Bishop Wordsworth’s Foundation is a registered charity committed to supporting the School by offering bursaries for disadvantaged students, facilitating careers opportunities, and by providing grants to help improve the school's buildings, facilities, and educational experience. 

A significant thank you goes to Lord Colin Sharman (1961), Clive Barnett (HM 1992-2002), Stuart Smallwood (HM 2002-2025) and others who had the vision to form the Foundation in 2017. Lord Sharman generously inaugurated the funding for the Foundation. 

The work of the BWS Foundation is varied and includes:

• Widening Access through funding bursaries: helping to ensure that talented young people can access a Bishop’s education, regardless of financial circumstances, by providing bursaries for uniform, extracurricular activities and transport. 
• Careers Enablement: helping those starting university and graduates with mentoring, work experience, internships and valuable careers advice from experienced alumni. 
• Funding futures: The Foundation’s income comes from fundraising activities, which support bursaries and small grants for capital projects and educational initiatives. Looking ahead, we aim to build an endowment fund, using part of the capital to generate long‑term income. The endowment fund's earnings will help fund major capital projects and enriching educational experiences for the whole School community. 
• Alumni Clubs and Drinks: From cars and military to rugby, cycling and more, Old Wordsworthians can join an existing club or start their own. Our clubs help OWs reconnect through shared passions, and we’ve even hosted meet‑ups around the world - from Bermuda and Singapore to Paris and Los Angeles! 
• Newsletter: We are keen to hear and share your stories as you reconnect with old classmates, as well as meet alumni from other years through the Foundation Clubs and drinks. 

Sign up to receive our Newsletter here! 

Contacting the Foundation 

For all enquiries, including questions about internships and work experience, please contact Caroline Popham, Alumni and Development, at cep@bishopwordsworths.org.uk or foundation@bws-school.org.uk