PUBLISHED 28 April 2023
The difference a bursary can make to change their world
The new AKS Lytham Foundation launches next week on 5th May at an event at AKS when we will be introducing our first Bursary Appeal.
AKS currently support a number of students throughout the Senior School and Sixth Form with bursarial assistance of some sort, and our ambition is to be able to offer many more fully-funded bursaries through the new AKS Lytham Foundation.
But what difference would an AKS Lytham Foundation bursary actually make to a young person?
We had the privilege of welcoming alumnus Ciaran Nelson to AKS who attended King Edward VII School on a bursary. Ciaran is the Director of Brand and Communications at Anglian Water Group and has shared his story on camera for the soon to be released AKS Foundation film.
Ciaran says, "There's little doubt much of what I've accomplished over the last three decades can be traced back to the head start I got joining King Edward VII in 1989 at 12 years of age. Those formative years did so much to shape my understanding of my place in the world, and to give me confidence to take on any challenge, no matter how alien it felt.
And it’s inescapably true I wouldn’t have benefitted from those years without the financial support of a bursary. I never realised how beneficial it was at the time, but my gratitude looking back is enormous.
A bursary isn’t a substitute for hard work and determination but it’s a helping hand you can’t put a value on until later in life. Now it’s my turn to pay back some of that opportunity, in the hope it inspires others to nurture talent wherever it can be found.“
Although based at AKS Lytham, the AKS Lytham Foundation will operate independently as a registered charity through the new Development Office at AKS. The Foundation will formally launch on Friday 5th May at an event at the school when the Bursary Fund will be introduced and open for donations.
#ChangeTheirWorld #OAKSAlumni