New scholarship to help sixth form students at two Leeds schools

The fund, which provides up to £3,333 a year in living costs, is available to one student every year at both Horsforth High School and Elliott Hudson College in Leeds.

The scholarship, launched by Frank Hester, the founder of IT company TPP, is aimed at students who may be deterred from staying in education by financial reasons.

Horsforth School is less than a mile from TPP’s new headquarters. To qualify for the scholarship at this school, the student must have a family income of below £25,000 or mitigating circumstances that have affected their learning. They must also have achieved a consistently high academic performance.

Elliott Hudson College is a free school which opened last year, replacing several of the city’s school sixth forms.

Students at the college are eligible for the scholarship if they were previously a pupil at Swallow Hill Academy or live in Armley. Their family income must also be below £25,000.

Mr Hester said: “I grew up in Armley and I know how many great kids there are in that area, who maybe just need an extra helping hand to be able to achieve their ambitions. We also wanted to work with Horsforth High because we’ve been in the town for nearly twenty years now and we know what a big impact a business like ours can make. I’m excited to meet the students who apply for this scholarship and for staff at TPP to work with them to help them achieve great things in further education.”

Simon Mason, director of Post-16 education at Horsforth High School said: “We warmly welcome such a tremendous opportunity for our students over the coming years to be able to benefit from this generous scholarship from a global employer with roots in Horsforth. As a specialist science college we fully share the vision of TPP with regard to social mobility and STEM career aspirations”.

Elliott Hudson College principal David Holtham said: “This very generous scholarship is an amazing opportunity for one of our students. Equally important, is the ability to form a close relationship between the college and a forward thinking local employer. This exciting project will allow our young people to gain, at first hand, an understanding of the skills needed to succeed in the modern workplace.”

Sixth form students wishing to apply for the scholarship need to complete the application form by May 1.

TPP is currently looking for a third school, in the Bradford area, to join the scholarship programme.