Peter Coates has made a multi-million-pound donation to a new foundation that will boost education opportunities for thousands of children and young people.
The money is being used to support the Character and Arts Foundation, which has been set up by the City Learning Trust, and will help schools and colleges in Stoke-on-Trent and the wider Staffordshire area.
A major focus of its work will be improving educational performance through character building, enriching culture and delivering opportunity.
To achieve this, the Foundation will work in partnership with the world-famous Hallé Orchestra and Staffordshire University to develop a range of brand-new programmes.
These will be on offer from September – firstly to the City’s Learning Trust academies then to any schools and colleges across the area who want to benefit from the Foundation’s resources.
Last year, the Stoke City Chairman and bet365 co-founder made another multi-million-pound donation to Staffordshire University for a new Masters Programme which aims to create the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Peter said: “I was delighted to support the further development of culture, character and entrepreneurship in schools and colleges across the city.
“I congratulate the City Learning Trust for having the vision to establish the Foundation – one that will build a legacy and has the power to help transform the lives and fortunes of many children and young people across the area.”
City Learning Trust CEO Carl Ward, pictured above, who led the set-up of the Foundation said: “This is an incredible opportunity for the children and young people of Stoke-on-Trent.
“It’s an exciting moment that heralds a new chapter of development for education across the city.
“From providing life-changing opportunities for children and young people in music and culture across the area to being an enabler for the Peter Coates Masters Programme run by Staffordshire University, the Foundation will provide a long-term approach to developing the future talent of tomorrow.”
The Foundation’s activities will see the Hallé Orchestra work with schools and colleges to further develop music education as well as deliver live concert performances.
It will also see the development of a revolutionary ‘Enterprise Academy’ in partnership with Staffordshire University, the Inspirational Learning Group and Performance Learning.
There will also be the introduction of an international scholarship programme to give children and young people the experience of exploring activities abroad.
And it will see the use of a ground-breaking toolkit and resources to put sustainability and climate education at the heart of school and college culture.
The Foundation will launch with a week-long celebration of culture and talent across the city between the 10th & 14th July. The centrepiece of this celebration will be two performances by the Halle Orchestra at the Victoria Hall on 12th July.
David Butcher, Chief Executive of the Hallé Orchestra said: “We are thrilled to expand our current work in Stoke-on-Trent with the exciting Musical pathways programme in partnership with the CLT, which will engage and transform the lives through music of over 10,000 young people from across the region on an annual basis.”
The City Learning Trust was established in 2014 to bring together like-minded schools that want to improve standards of education across their communities. The trust currently consists of four academies, two secondaries and two primaries, all based in Stoke-on-Trent. In total, it has approximately 2,500 pupils.
