Sutton Trust
Overview
The Sutton Trust was founded in 1997 by Sir Peter Lampl with the aim of promoting social mobility through education. It has funded a large number of access projects in early years, school and university settings, and now focuses primarily on research and policy work, as well as a small number of innovative pilot initiatives.
The Trust exists to challenge educational inequality and prevent the subsequent waste of talent. It is particularly concerned with breaking the link between educational opportunities and family background, and in realising a system in which talented young people are given the chance to prosper, regardless of their background, the school they happen to attend or the area in which they live.
Research and practical projects funded by the Trust are comissioned from partners within their existing network of contacts in universities, schools and voluntary organisations.
Please be aware that they can only fund a small number of projects each year, even when proposals are in line with their aims and current priority areas.
The Trust has defined the following areas as its priorities for the next few years:
- Parents as first educators - narrowing gaps in school readiness and boosting cognitive development for non-privileged children
- Free schools and equity
- Encouraging the most effective teachers to serve in the most challenging schools
- Boosting provision for gifted and talented students from non-privileged backgrounds
- Access to highly selective universities and courses and the professions
- Understadnding the drivers of social mobility
While they recognise that there are other areas which are relevent to their over-arching agenda of reducing educational inequality, all their work and funding will be related to the above specific priorities.