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Sutton Trust

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Sutton Trust

The Sutton Trust is an educational charity in the United Kingdom which aims to improve social mobility and address educational disadvantage. The charity was set up by educational philanthropist, Sir Peter Lampl in 1997.

Since then, it has undertaken over 150 research studies and funded a wide range of practical programmes for young people in early years, primary and secondary school, with the aim of increasing access to higher education and the professions. The charity's Chief Executive is Nick Harrison.

Since its founding in 1997, the Trust has received the majority of its funding from its founder and executive chairman, British business executive Sir Peter Lampl. In recent years[when?] the trust has diversified its income and now also secures contributions from a range of major corporates, trusts and foundations, university partners, and individual donors. The Sutton Trust is actively fundraising, and has attracted a number of senior figures from banking, industry, trusts and foundations to join its Strategic Advisory and Development Board and its Fellowship.

The trust is investing over £4 million per year in research and programmes designed to improve social mobility. An independent study in 2007 by the Boston Consulting Group found that the trust's investments were cost-effective: on average, programmes generated a return to beneficiaries of £15 for every pound invested.

In 2014 the Sutton Trust established a £1.25 million fund in partnership with the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. The fund will support projects aimed at improving parental engagement in the early years.

The trust's Sutton Scholars programme aims to support highly able low- and middle-income students in early secondary school. The programme provides a multi-year course of enrichment activities for each student, with content delivered by four Universities: Cambridge, Nottingham, UCL and Warwick. The programme aims to foster talent at an early age, increasing the pool of students attending the trust's university summer schools.

Open Access is a voluntary scheme proposed by the trust that would open private day schools to students from all backgrounds, with places awarded on merit alone. The schools would remain independent, entrance would be competitive and fees would be paid on a sliding scale. Over 80 independent day schools have backed the scheme, including St Paul's School.

A seven-year pilot at the Belvedere School in Liverpool was funded jointly by the Sutton Trust and the Girls' Day School Trust and all places were awarded on merit, with parents paying a sliding scale of fees according to their means. Under the scheme, the social mix of the school became more diverse with 30% of pupils on free places, 40% paying partial fees and 30% paying full fees. The first cohort achieved the school's best ever examination results – and the best in Liverpool – with 99% of students achieving at least five good GCSEs.

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