The Andrew Reed Foundation
Founded in 1813 as the London Orphan Asylum, the Reed’s Foundation is committed to providing educational and pastoral support for often vulnerable children who have lost the support of one or both parents. Over 12,000 children have had their lives transformed through the work of the Foundation. In many cases, these children have suffered from parental deaths, abandonment, abuse and parental health issues, physical or mental. They each have the ability but may not, unfortunately, have the means to overcome these childhood traumas.
Andrew Reed, our Founder, believed that simply because a child had lost a parent they should not be condemned to a life of poverty or deprivation. He believed that by providing an education in a safe and caring environment these children could flourish. Continuing to build on the legacy of Andrew Reed is at the very core of all we do at the Foundation and the School today. A Foundation place at Reed’s is not merely a financial package, it incorporates the specialist pastoral support that these children need to survive and thrive. Our team of Foundation staff, teachers, heads of house and support staff are all specially trained to assist these children; to provide them with the stability, guidance, time and love they so need in their lives.
In addition to Foundation places, the Reed’s Foundation also runs outreach activities with over 40 primary and secondary schools in disadvantaged areas as well as a thought leadership programme to help schools and charities assist children from vulnerable backgrounds. During this past year alone, over 1,300 children attended our outreach activities. These include everything from science and maths-based courses, to sport, music, drama, GCSE tutoring and robotics. The aim of our outreach is to provide a broader reach of our support, raise children’s aspiration and attainment and, in some cases, offer an introduction to the School for potential Foundation pupils. Additionally, our thought leadership element incorporates lectures and debates on the area of overcoming disadvantage in children. Increasingly our pastoral team have been speaking at conferences and individually to other charities looking to expand their work in this area.
The core aims of the Foundation are simple: we want to help potentially vulnerable young children to overcome the difficulties of their past, to define their futures as they want them to be, and to go into the world with self-confidence and self-belief so that they can succeed and make a difference.
