Stratford school could face legal challenge over endowment worth hundreds of thousands of pounds

That historic endowment, which dates back hundreds of years, was last challenged and changed in 1996 resulting in an agreement which was backed by the High Court.

However, at the 2020 AGM of Stratford Town Trust, which administers both the Guild Estate and College Estate for the benefit of the town and KES, it was decided to set up a working group to see if the legal order could be challenged. Since then, not much has happened but behind the scenes pro bono legal work has been taking place; the results of that labour being the 20-page document which has not yet been made public.

Jane Price, who is part of the working group of trust members and is also chair of governors at Stratford-upon-Avon School, told the meeting: “We have just very recently had a 20-page opinion from [a barrister] which is quite complex.

“I’m not a lawyer and I haven’t prepared a presentation. What we need to do is, with our solicitors, look at that advice and then engage with the trust about that advice to make a decision about what can be done next.

“The one thing I would say, which I did understand, was that we as a working group can’t make the legal challenge. What we have to do is try to convince the trustees, who I know have their own view about this, that it is possible for a route to be taken, but we can’t be the people to do that. So, we have to use what we have learned and whatever we have at our disposal to convince the trustees or the KES trust to take some action to change the situation.”

She added: “Watch this space.”

Following the meeting, Mrs Price told the Herald: “As I shared at the AGM, having received this opinion, we have gone back to our counsel requesting clarification about some of the details and once his response has been received we will examine the advice before deciding our next steps. That said, it seems clear to me that the Stratford Town Trust trustees are key and we will seek to talk with them once these clarifications have been received.

“We have been lucky to receive pro bono legal advice so far – if funding is needed in the future my personal opinion is that we could consider using Go Fund Me, though I haven’t looked into it yet.”

Mrs Price expected the working group would need a couple of weeks before giving more concrete details of the next move. This could also include canvassing public opinion.She added: “There is a fundamental inequality in the way the funds are distributed, a solution is needed, and we will keep looking for one.”

Stratford Town Trust, at the AGM, was at pains to point out that its hands are tied by the legal agreement, which was also set out in the Charity Commission Scheme in 2001 when the trust was set up, and it holds a neutral stance about the KES endowment.

“We’re not in a position to make any changes to that 36 per cent entitlement to KES trustees,” said Sara Aspley, the trust’s chief executive.

As previously reported by the Herald, KES also does not have the power to change the endowment. The 36 per cent was determined in the High Court, with KES volunteering to reduce its previous share by 10 percentage points after Stratford Town Council raised the issue of where the school’s students were coming from.

The town council, as then trustees of the estates, had asked for the court to reduce the share from 46 per cent to 15 per cent and to give the balance to the town’s other schools.

However, the endowment did not require students from KES, which can trace its origins to 1295, to live in Stratford – it’s not known publicly how many students at the grammar school are from the town. Its catchment area stretches, as do other south Warwickshire grammar schools, into other districts and counties.

The school also legally owns its 36 per cent. KES headmaster Bennet Carr previously told the Herald that the school’s trustees had offered to take responsibility for managing the asset and associated costs, but the town trust chose to continue to manage it as part of the Guild Estate.

The school, as a small secondary with around 780 pupils, also argues that if its income was reduced it would suffer financially as it does not have economies of scale and would potentially need to move from its historic town centre location.

However, opponents to the endowment argue that it is an historic throwback which gives a predominantly boys school with a limited amount of children from the town a large amount of money when other schools in town also need financial support.

There are roughly 2,000 students at Stratford-upon-Avon School, the majority from within the town boundaries, and another 2,000 (approximately) at the town’s primary schools. There were 14 grants made to state schools by the town trust in 2023 (including some money to nearby schools where there are a good number of Stratford children, such as Alcester Grammar School). The grants, according to trust accounts, totalled £194,840.