London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Top schools defend rejecting bursary for white boys

Two top English private schools have defended their decision not to accept a benefactor's offer of scholarships for disadvantaged white boys.

Winchester and Dulwich colleges have declined the offer - reported to be worth over £1m - by a former pupil from both, Professor Sir Bryan Thwaites.

The schools say they do not want to put ethnic restrictions on who can benefit from financial help.

Sir Bryan says he is now looking for state schools to accept his offer.

The philanthropist, who is 96 and plans to leave the funds in his will, attended Dulwich until the start of the Second World War, and then went on to Winchester.

His parents could not have afforded the fees for him and his brother without the aid of scholarships.

Sir Bryan says he wants to help white boys from disadvantaged backgrounds because they perform worse at school than their counterparts from other ethnic groups.

Stormzy sending black students to Cambridge
Private schools propose 10,000 free places
Private schools 'should help children in care'
Sir Bryan told the Times newspaper that this was why he wanted to make a leading education available to others and believed the institutions were wrong to reject his offer on the basis that it was based on race.

He told the Times: "I have done a lot for both schools over the years and have been closely involved in them.

"All the more, therefore, do I feel that both schools have made a strategic mistake in their interpretation of legislation."

Trevor Phillips, the former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said the Equality Act of 2010 was not designed to favour people of colour, but to ensure equality.

He told the Times that Sir Bryan's proposal simply showed he "wanted to do the right thing by families who need support".

In August last year, the rapper Stormzy announced he would fund two black British students to go to the University of Cambridge.

The star said there was "a whole bunch of academically brilliant, excellent students" who needed an incentive to aim for top universities.

In his single, Crown, Stormzy addressed some of the negative reaction to his decision to offer the scholarships, rapping that it is not "anti-white, it's pro-black".


Fees of over 40k

Winchester, a boarding school which charges £13,903 per term, and Dulwich, which charges £7,082 a term for day boys and £14,782 for a term of full boarding, are among the most exclusive schools in England.

At Dulwich, there are currently 191 pupils from Year 3 to Year 13 who are in receipt of a means-tested bursary, the school said.

"The college's ambition is for 50% of pupils at Dulwich to be in receipt of fee relief through scholarships and, increasingly, means-tested bursaries. This figure is currently 30%," it said in a statement.

A spokesman for Winchester College said: "The school, in common with many universities, has outreach schemes aimed at carefully selected and under-represented communities. These schemes operate successfully and are regularly reviewed.

"The school will continue to discuss with benefactors the effective delivery of their intentions.

"But the trustees are clear, having consulted widely, that acceptance of a bequest of this nature would neither be in the interests of the school as a charity, nor the specific interests of those it aims to support through its work.

"Notwithstanding legal exceptions to the relevant legislation, the school does not see how discrimination on grounds of a boy's colour could ever be compatible with its values."

Master of Dulwich College, Dr Joe Spence, said: "We are extremely grateful to the many benefactors who support the College's bursary fund. Their generosity means we are able to offer academically able boys a place at Dulwich College.

"I am, however, resistant to awards made with any ethnic or religious criteria. Bursaries are an engine of social mobility, and they should be available to all who pass our entrance examinations, irrespective of their background."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
×