Our Year in Numbers

We have achieved real impact across all areas of our work despite considerable challenges. The pupils in our schools achieved outstanding results and we sustained our commitment to our bursary programme, which enables young people to access our education. We carefully reviewed the introduction of VAT on school fees and took measured steps to ensure families were well-informed and that the impact was managed responsibly.

Our two collaborative strategic community programmes took significant strides forward. We increased the number of partnerships with Bedford primary schools under our Accelerator Programme and reviewed our project development process to make it easier for local primary schools to access funding.

Bedford Giving had a stand-out year. The Career Mentoring programme grew rapidly, the first Youth Panel was launched giving young people a voice in funding decisions, and programmes focusing on young people’s mental health, affordable activities and life skills were developed.

Our grants programme grew its investment in our community, awarding over £1.2m to charities and other organisations tackling issues from poverty and disability to sport, crime prevention, and community cohesion. A new grants strategy is being developed to sharpen our focus and ensure funding has the greatest impact.

For many colleagues this has been a challenging year. We have worked tirelessly to meet the challenges of the Government’s tax and policy changes, and at Bedford Modern School to deal with RAAC; issues that families in our school communities have faced alongside us.

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