As part of the academic enrichment programme and as part of the vision to prepare the boys for being confident in the changing wider world an Inspirational Speaker Programme has been put in place.

The Programme brings key speakers from current affairs, culture and business to Sherborne to speak to either the whole School or a specific group of boys for their subject, interest or scholarship group.

In the academic year 2011-12, Sherborne was able to welcome Thomas Maltbaek and Praise Oh from Princeton, USA as our first Foundation Fellows thanks to the generosity of Old Shirburnians.  In 2012-13, Collen Kent and Michael Weylandt (pictured left) joined the School for a year also from Princeton.  Michael says:

"Over my year as a Foundation Fellow, I've tried to introduce my students to the wide applicability of mathematical thought, drawing on my own experience as a scientific researcher, financial trader, and programmer. Few of them are likely to become mathematicians themselves, but I hope that all of them learned new ways to engage their studies and, more importantly, problems in any field they may choose to pursue. There's great beauty and power in the fact that the same mathematics describes the evolution of financial markets and the swirling of milk in a tea cup -- hopefully I've given them a glimpse of it."

Each year, the Foundation is looking to support new Fellows - recent high flying graduates who will teach and help at the School for a year.

The Sports Coaching Fund

The Foundation is working with the School to fulfil the vision for the development of Sport and to culminate in a sustainable strategy for success for Sherborne sport.

The vision is to deliver a three to five year strategy that promotes:

• An opportunity for boys to find a sport that they can continue into adult life
• A striving for excellence
• A sports programme for the School that follows a continuum
• A sports programme that provides a breadth of experience and an opportunity for all.

The ultimate aim will be to be regarded as the one of the, if not the, top sporting school(s) in the country with all boys achieving the best they can at whatever level in whatever the sport they choose. Sport at Sherborne sits within the parameters of a school environment where boys can undertake high quality academic, musical, theatrical as well as sporting activity for the full duration of a boy's time at the School.

New Drama Rehearsal and Teaching Space

The construction of the New Music School in 2010 has given us the opportunity to also advance the rehearsal and teaching of drama at Sherborne through a new project for which we are seeking your support.

The original Music School on Hospital Lane was built for music in 1926 and has been used for this purpose up until 2010. After due consideration and an excellent proposal from the drama team we are proposing to use the space as a drama rehearsal and teaching space to complement the Powell Theatre performance space.

Each year, the School offers boys a range of trips, each giving an insight into other countries and cultures; for example: a cricket tour to South Africa, a rugby tour to the South Pacific, art tours to New York and Madrid and expeditions to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. The Travel and Tour Bursary Fund helps those unable to travel without some financial support.  60 boys have been supported over the past 8 years.
By way of an example, in the summer of 2011, 45 boys took part in a rugby tour to Australia - eleven of them would not have been able to go without a travel and tour bursary.  The tour's report is below, along with a report from  December 2006 when Sherborne's 1st XI were invited to an International Under 19s Cricket Festival in Cape Town.

Appeal Update 2009

by Tom Badham-Thornhill (f), 2007
"I was lucky enough to benefit from the Andrew Yorke Sail Training Fund last year enabling me to do the Powerboat 2, First Aid and Instructors courses, and put something back into Sailing at Sherborne. For the Instructors course, Robbie Edwards (another successful applicant) and I booked ourselves in at Rockley Point in Poole. To save money, we decided to camp for the week in Rockley Park. This seemed to be a perfect plan. We arrived on Monday morning, booked in and loaded our kit, a weeks worth of food and a palatial tent, onto our two battered bicycles and set off to find our site. We quickly pitched the tent and headed off to the Sailing Club.