Since 2007, the Knightsbridge School Education Foundation (KSEF) has received almost £420,000 in donations, of which over £170,000 was donated in 2014. We are therefore not far from halfway towards reaching our original goal of raising £1mn. An enormous debt of gratitude is due to all those who have supported us and continue to do so. There were two major fundraising events in 2014: The KS Headmaster’s Appeal in March and the KSEF Autumn fundraiser in October. Magoo Giles launched his appeal in a bid to raise funds for a KSEF Bursary pupil, to enable him to take his place at Shrewsbury School in September 2014. Although the pupil had been awarded a Bursary, a funding gap of £45,000 remained, a gap which – owing to the fantastic response of many KS parents – was filled within a month.

The KSEF Autumn fundraiser was held at the Royal Academy. The evening was attended by 12 couples and involved a drinks reception, at which the father of one KSEF Bursary pupil gave a short address, followed by a guided tour of the Anselm Kiefer exhibition and dinner. We are delighted to report that (including Gift Aid) a little over £80,000 was raised from the evening and we have also received assurances of longer term commitments to support KSEF. Overall, we received encouraging, positive feedback from the attendees, but areas for improvement were also highlighted and we will be addressing these ahead of our next major fundraising event. The current plan is that this next event will take place in mid March, when we will be inviting all those who were unable to come to the Royal Academy dinner but expressed interest in supporting KSEF. However, we are also keen to hear from anyone else outside this group who is interested in attending.