
The Royal National Children's Foundation (RNCF) is a British charity which helps children facing abuse, neglect or trauma at home by providing them with the opportunity to move into a supported education environment. The RNCF currently enables nearly 400 vulnerable and disadvantaged children to attend state and independent boarding schools and day schools. As well as paying school fees, the RNCF also funds counselling, educational school trips and holidays for vulnerable children, many of whom have never had a holiday.
History
The RNCF is the successor charity to an organisation founded as an orphanage by Dr
Andrew Reed in 1827. From 1842 (when
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
became the first Patron), it was successively known as the Infant Orphan Asylum, the Royal Infant Orphanage, the Royal Wanstead School, and the Royal Wanstead Children's Foundation. The school was based at
Wanstead
Wanstead () is an area in East London, England, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It borders South Woodford to the north, Redbridge to the east and Manor Park to the south, with Leytonstone and Walthamstow to the west. It is located 8 m ...
on the edge of
Epping Forest
Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the Lond ...
in grand buildings that today house the
Snaresbrook Crown Court
Snaresbrook Crown Court is a historic, Listed building, Grade II listed building situated in Snaresbrook, an area within the London Borough of Redbridge. It is one of 12 Crown Court centres serving Greater London and is designated as a third-tie ...
. The charity was merged in December 2010 with the Joint Educational Trust (JET), with which it has been closely collaborating for some 25 years. JET was founded in the 1970s by a group of prep school head teachers. The first JET chairman was wartime hero Group Captain
Douglas Bader
Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, (; 21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982) was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared ...
.
The Royal National Children's Foundation no longer operates its own
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...
s but helps to support vulnerable children at a range of boarding schools throughout the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. These young people have one or no active parents and have suffered some degree of abuse, neglect, fear and disruption in their home, family or school environment such as to be seriously prejudicial to their normal development.
RNCF has supported 3,000 vulnerable, disadvantaged children at some 150 different boarding schools since the closure of its own schools in 1971. It describes this work as Assisted Boarding but it also supports some vulnerable children (up to the age of 13) at independent day schools.
Today
It funds the schooling of these beneficiaries by putting together packages with the support of other charities and the schools themselves. In this way, RNCF leverages its own funds some seven times, so that a RNCF grant of £4,000 can effectively secure the fees for a vulnerable young person at an independent boarding school for a whole year. Coupled with the charity's low administrative costs, this helps ensure that a very large proportion of all donations and legacies go direct to paying fees for these disadvantaged young people.
The Royal National Children's Foundation helps to support some 400 children at more than 100 state and independent boarding and prep day schools. These children benefit from the high levels of pastoral care and individual attention available especially at many boarding schools. Royal National supports its beneficiaries for either the duration of their secondary schooling or until they no longer need the charity's support. In many cases, therefore, the charity is supporting these vulnerable young people for 7–8 years. The charity's invested endowment helps underwrite its commitment and ensures the continuity of schooling and care for young people who have already suffered so much disruption in their short lives.
Between 2001 and July 2016, the RNCF's Chairman was Colin Morrison, a publisher who was formerly a beneficiary of the charity. Morrison was succeeded by Kevin Parry.
The RNCF's Patron is the Princess Royal. During a speech at the charity's annual conference in 2010, The Princess Royal said: "Boarding school will , by no means, suit every child vulnerable or not. But our case studies show that, for the right child in the right school at the right time, Assisted Boarding really can help transform a young person's life and prospects. I commend the Royal National Children's Foundation as a highly-effective charity deserving of support."
RNCF has been active in campaigning for the Government to recognise and incentivise the 'vital welfare role' of boarding schools at a time when (he says) the number of boarding places has declined by up to 40% in less than 25 years. It has also called for local authorities to use 'foster boarding' to help solve the acute shortage of carers. He has advocated that local authorities could more readily recruit as foster parents some working couples where the children were in boarding schools. RNCF has said: "It's not for all children, and not for all foster carers, but it's an idea to consider when local authorities are trying to secure the future of a child in care. Boarding schools can and should be part of the solution for many more vulnerable children than they are currently. Modern boarding schools have so much to offer vulnerable children."
The charity's "Breaking Through" research for the charity shows how – over the long term – these Assisted Boarders tend to be among their schools' star performers across a range of social, emotional and academic criteria. He ascribes at least some of this success to the way in which these young people grasp their "golden opportunity" with both hands: they appreciate their good fortune in being able to develop a promising new life after a particularly troubled start.
In 2011, Colin Morrison launched the Assisted Boarding Network to promote the effectiveness of Assisted Boarding for vulnerable young people in the care of local authorities. The Network, which is now being jointly promoted both by the RNCF and Buttle UK, was launched at a Westminster conference in June 2012, addressed by Tim Loughton, the Under Secretary of State for Children & Families and by Lord (Andrew) Adonis his predecessor in the former Labour government. The conference was attended by representatives from more than 60 local authorities throughout England and Wales.
The Foundation is now seeking increases in donations, legacies and subscriptions to help it expand Assisted Boarding. It is also seeking to persuade more grant-making charities and other organisations to help provide long-term support for these vulnerable children.
With the merger of Royal Wanstead Children's Foundation and the Joint Educational Trust (JET) — to form the Royal National Children's Foundation — the charity declared its aim to increase to 500 the number of vulnerable young people supported within five years. The appeal was launched with a dinner in February 2011 hosted by
The Princess Royal
Princess Royal is a title customarily (but not automatically) awarded by British monarchs to their eldest daughters. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. There have been ...
at
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...
.
The RNCF has offices at King Edward's School, Witley and the
Cobham,
Surrey
Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
campus at
Reed's School
Reed's School is an independent secondary school, secondary day school, day and boarding school for boys with a co-educational sixth form located in Cobham, Surrey, England. There are currently around 700 day pupils (620 boys, 80 girls) and 1 ...
, another charitable institution founded in the early 19th century by Dr Andrew Reed. The Directors of the charity are Mrs Christine Hughes (Director of Operations) and David Bassom (Director of Marketing and Fundraising). Kevin Parry is the Chairman of the RNCF. Presidents of the charity include: the Archbishops of
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...
,
York
York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
and
Westminster
Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
, Lord Adonis, and the
Bishop of London
The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723.
The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...
.
References
{{reflist
External links
RNCF websiteFriends of Royal Wanstead School
Educational foundations based in the United Kingdom
Royal charities of the United Kingdom
Children's charities based in the United Kingdom
1827 establishments in the United Kingdom
Organizations established in 1827