Grant News

Funding for Special Schools and Colleges (UK)

Grants of between £20,000 and £75,000 are available to special needs schools and colleges towards the cost of new building and refurbishment projects or equipment. The funding is being made available through the Wolfson Foundation's Funding for Special Schools and Colleges grants programme.

The funding is available for projects that are focused on helping pupils at secondary level to develop skills that would help them to gain employment or live independently after leaving school or college.  

The applicant organisation should meet all of the following criteria:

  • be a registered charity, local authority
  • be registered with the relevant regulatory authority, where applicable, and have at least a good rating

The project should be for a new building, refurbishment work or equipment and aim to produce one or more of the following outcomes:

  • Increased access to services for new and existing users
  • Improved quality and range of services
  • Improved financial stability of the organisation

Previous projects supported include:

  • a grant of £16,000 to the Lindsworth School in Birmingham for the refurbishment of an on-site house for Independent Living Skills programme;
  • a grant of £25,000 to BeyondAutism for the Redevelopment of Rainbow School’s Earlsfield Campus, South London; and 
  • Victoria School and Specialist Arts College in Birmingham which received a grant of £35,000 towards a Food Technology Room.

Projects requesting £50,000 or more need to have matched funding in place.

There is a 2-stage application process and the next stage 1 closing date is the 5th January 2024. Applications successful at this stage will have until the 1st March 2024 to complete the stage 2 application.

20th November 2023