It’s not about your past, it’s about your potential.

By providing support to families facing financial constraints, the school not only opens its doors to a wider range of talents but also affirms itself as a place of opportunity. The MCS family is enriched by the presence of pupils from every part of our community and is truly reflective of the diverse city of Oxford.

It is by being true to our past that we secure our future path.

Make a gift to support bursaries

Securing our Future

In 2019 the Governors set out a bold ambition to build an endowment of £15 million by 2030 – the 550th anniversary of the School’s founding. The figure chosen represents the capital sum needed to secure in perpetuity the fee assistance given at that time.

Each year around 10% of pupils in the Senior School are given financial support, that is around 75 to 80 pupils who have some help with fees.

With the levying of VAT on school fees, and the end to business rate tax relief, the school faces considerable financial headwinds. However supporting bursaries remains our enduring strategic priority and the need for fundraising is more neccessary than ever.

Bursaries transform lives and maintain the diversity of background, experience and perspective that makes MCS all it is. Discover the impact of bursaries on our Bursary Stories page.

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, our bursary endowment has just passed £9 million. This means ten pupils each year are being funded on the interest from the endowment alone. Read more about our fundraising ambitions and how  donations are used in the latest edition of our Impact Report.

Our bursary fund is managed by Oxford University Endowment Management, renowned for their expertise in endowment management. The aim of the fund is to preserve the real value of the endowment whilst it generates a sustainable return that the school spends on bursaries.

Join us in supporting MCS

We are grateful to all our donors, every gift gets us closer to our target.

Make a gift to support bursaries

Gifts towards our endowment fund are the focus of the 1480 Society which recognises the highest level of regular giving

THE 1480 SOCIETY

Those donors who choose to leave MCS a gift in their will are recognised through the Bob Stanier Legacy Society

Make a gift in your will

Our Bursary Benefactors are those who wish to endow a bursary in perpetuity through the gift of a capital sum of £450,000. Please email Susie Baker, Director of the Waynflete Office to discuss this in more detail.

Below you will find more about our bursary programme including the stories of a number of our bursary pupils.

Our Modern Founders

Those donors who make a gift of £1 million to the endowment are honoured as Modern Founders. Marking the way that they have permanently established the provision of pupil places will become part of the school calendar, just as the Benefactors’ Prayer acts as a reminder of past donors at this level each year at Commem.

We will discuss with each Modern Founder how to recognise their transformational generosity through our existing school traditions on Commemoration Day, our new Founders’ Day, and in ways appropriate to MCS in its next 500 years. Each founder will be celebrated in our Endowment Book through an illuminated letter by a commissioned artist.