SFCT Information

We all know just how important a child’s school years are. It’s about far more than gaining a first-class education.

A school provides a child’s support network, moral guidance, and creates a platform for adult life. To lose all that a school provides can be totally devastating, particularly in the final years before crucial exams. That is why SFS Group founded The School Fees Charitable Trust in 1991. The aim of the Trust is to help parents who are unable to pay their school fees because of genuine hardship, arising from a sudden and unforeseen change of circumstance over the past 12 months.

The School Fees Charitable Trust is funded by the surplus remaining from School Fees Insurance claims. Grants are awarded by a board of Trustees under strict criteria:

Grants are made to cover the final year of GCSEs, A Levels or equivalent exams, such as the International Baccalaureate. In exceptional circumstances, the Trustees may consider making a grant for a longer period.
The maximum award granted is 25% of the net fee after deduction of any other awards from the school or other charitable trusts.
The parents must be able to demonstrate a recent and serious change in their circumstances.
The Trust expects the School to make a contribution to the fees and will look for a report on the parents’ and child’s circumstances.

Trustees

Tim Love is the Investment Director responsible for GAM Investment Emerging Equity strategies and has 35 years investment experience. Tim was educated at Sherborne School and Kent University and holds a BA in Accountancy and Politics. He trained as a chartered accountant at Price Waterhouse. He is married, has a large family and enjoys running and swimming. He presently lives in Wimbledon, London.

Martyn Gowar is a retired solicitor and chartered tax advisor who specialised in private client and succession matters as well as having experience in charity and education law and governance. He was educated at Kings College School, Wimbledon, and Oxford. He was Clerk to the Governors of Wellington College for nearly 20 years, and was a Governor for 15 years of St Paul’s Cathedral Choir School

Angus Cater was formerly the Chairman of SFS Group, the company which founded the School Fees Charitable Trust and provided its funding. He was educated at Sherborne School, is an accountant (ACCA) and has an MA in Finance. He has been a Governor of four schools. He is retired but likes to write, to sail and to run. He lives in Kingsclere, Hampshire.

Norman Wallace was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1970 and, after service worldwide, retired as a Colonel in 1993. He was Bursar and Clerk to the Governors of St Dunstan’s College, Catford from 1994 to 2018. Duties included administration of Benevolent, Scholarship and Bursary Funds. He is married and has a son, a daughter, and three grandchildren.

The Trust has helped hundreds of families over the years at a host of independent schools up and down the country. Initial enquiries from the school are welcome. Please email: trustsecretary@sfctrust.org

SFCT Information

We all know just how important a child’s school years are. It’s about far more than gaining a first-class education.

The School Fees Charitable Trust is funded by the surplus remaining from School Fees Insurance claims. Grants are awarded by a board of Trustees under strict criteria:

Trustees

The Trust has helped hundreds of families over the years at a host of independent schools up and down the country. Initial enquiries from the school are welcome. Please email: trustsecretary@sfctrust.org

In the first instance please use the contact us form, but if you have any questions then please email: trustsecretary@sfctrust.org