It’s been a busy, fun and rewarding year at the Portal Trust. On behalf of all my colleagues on the staff team, our Chairman Sophie Fernandes, and of our Board of Governors, I first of all want to say: thank you. Thank you to all the charities, education providers, leaders and individuals we work with to help us fulfil our mission.

Funding, Inspiration and Impact

In May, we were excited to announce £0.5m in funding for the Migration Museum, to help create their new permanent home in the City of London. We’ll also be putting our name to The Portal Trust Education Room, a dedicated space within the Museum where school and community groups can explore how migration has shaped who all of us are.

By becoming the first grantmaker to support this vital capital project, we’re helping to place the study of migration where it belongs: at the heart of Britain’s story.

When the Migration Museum reopens in its new home in 2028, it will be located just minutes away from well-known landmarks like the Tower of London, as well as being just across the road from our own office. It’s been thrilling to walk past and see the foundations being laid for what’s certain to become an essential part of London’s education infrastructure.

We’re proud of big, transformative partnerships like this, or like the Portal Centre for Social Impact, but we’re equally proud of our support for educational projects of all sizes and styles, especially those trying new and imaginative ideas.

This year, for example, we renewed and extended our support for creative-writing programmes with Ministry of Stories. Their project offers inclusive writing workshops for children, especially for those with special educational needs and disabilities - all run from the spooky environs of Hoxton Street Monster Supplies.

One of the best parts of the work we do at the Trust is getting out and about to visit grantee organisations as they progress the projects we’ve funded. Some of our visits this year really highlight the innovative work going on around London, often led by and for marginalised communities.

In July, we launched our 2020-25 Impact Report on a sun-drenched afternoon at the London College of Fashion Campus in the Olympic Park. The report is a snapshot of how we’ve been working to achieve the Portal Trust’s mission. That mission - to make an outstanding education available to all young people in inner London - guides us in everything we do.

Reading through the report is a humbling experience. We entitled it “Making a Real Difference.” The people making that difference are the staff, volunteers and above all, the beneficiaries, of the myriad organisations we support.

The creativity and resilience of London’s young people often surprises me. They’re growing up in a wealthy Global City scarred by conspicuous inequality. And yet, I see time and again how young Londoners don’t allow disadvantage or unfairness to define them, and how they seize opportunity when it appears.

Our interview with three local young people who gained access - through Portal Trust grants - to the World-famous Mountview Academy of Performing Arts in Southwark is a great and joyful example of this.

We’re also one of the few funders still running a programme of individual grants to help exceptional young people who are facing exceptional challenges. Our inspiring guest blog from former grant recipient Dr Sammy Arab helped contribute to a record surge in applications to our bursary programme this year. I’m grateful to everyone who applied, for telling us their stories and for their patience and good grace.

We were also honoured to sponsor the Frontline Award for Innovation in Social Work, and to meet this year's winner Niketa Sanderson-Gillard. Niketa's Social Enterprise, WhyCare is helping Local Authorities to address the severe shortage of skilled foster carers from diverse backgrounds.

New Strategy, same Mission

I’m excited to announce that early in 2026, we’ll launch a new, multi-year Grants Strategy. Two years in the making, the new strategy will be an evolution of the funding approach that has produced such transformative results since our last update in 2018.

I’m proud that our staff, Board and advisers have worked together so collaboratively and imaginatively to produce a roadmap for our future funding. It integrates the developing educational needs of London’s young people, with an emphasis on ensuring inclusive and equitable access to opportunities. Watch this space!

Advocacy, Research, and a big Campaign win

To be truly impactful, our work as a funder must always be informed by rigorous research into the needs of London’s young people, and must always be accompanied by advocacy for a fairer, more inclusive education system.

This Autumn we launched a major new report, at the inspiration of our Chairman Sophie Fernandes and commissioned from experts at King's College London, into the experiences of Mixed-heritage young people in Secondary and Higher Education.

London’s Mixed-heritage population is overwhelmingly young, and is growing quickly. Our research found that Mixed-heritage students face a paradoxical set of challenges: they find themselves “hyper-visible” in informal guessing games about identity, background and culture, yet all too often invisible in official policy and practice.

The report’s findings are already leading to practical outcomes in our work. I’m delighted to say that in January, we’ll begin a project with the team that led the research to deliver a practical toolkit for Secondary schools. The toolkit will help school leaders and class teachers embed inclusive practices, helping give Mixed-heritage students not only recognition, but the confidence to embrace and celebrate all parts of who they are.

I’m also delighted by the results we’re seeing from the Libraries for Primaries campaign, of which the Portal Trust has been a flagship partner since 2022.

We know that when children pick up a culture of reading for pleasure, it brings measurable benefits to mental health, attainment and empathy. So when I learned that 1 in 7 state Primary schools in the UK don’t have a dedicated library space, my initial shock turned quickly to determination.

By partnering with the National Literacy Trust, Penguin Random House and fellow education charities, we took a dual approach: we provided funding to fit out and stock 27 school libraries across inner London, and we put our weight behind the campaign to secure a Government commitment that school libraries would become a legal right, not a lucky privilege.

I was delighted to be at 11 Downing Street in July, with Denise Jones, the Chair of our Grants Committee, to hear the Chancellor commit to ensuring all state Primaries have a fully funded library by the end of this Parliament.

Creativity for All: our 2025 Education Lecture

In October, we gathered at Bayes Business School with 150 guests from the worlds of education, government, charities and museums, along with students from secondary school through to postgraduate level to listen to a magisterial 2025 Portal Trust Education Lecture by Dr Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A Museums.

Tristram drew attention to a crisis in creative education which threatens to block access for millions of young people to careers in some of Britain’s most thriving industries.

He pointed to startling data showing that while Britain’s creative sector is now 50% bigger than it was in 2010, the number of young people taking Art and Design GCSEs has fallen by 40% over the same period. For Design and Technology GCSEs, the drop is 71%.

This “narrowing” of the curriculum has complex roots, but it shows an urgent need to rebalance our educational priorities. Tristram drew on the history of his own institution to show how museums are well-placed to help address these issues, and to inspire the next generation of designers, creators and artists.

I couldn’t agree more about the essential role museums play in supporting the natural wonder and curiosity of young minds. The Young V&A in east London, where we’re proud to sponsor the Portal Trust Community Room, is an especially powerful example of this.

Staying True to our Values

It’s a privilege to be entrusted with the leadership of this 300 year old charity, and it’s important to me that the values which guide our grantmaking also guide our stewardship. We remain committed to being a truly independent grantmaker, unafraid to support bold, creative, and untried ideas, and rooted in the communities we serve.

We were proud to take part in the 10 year anniversary of the Living Wage Funders scheme in June, and we’ve also proudly been an accredited Living Wage employer since 2018.

In March, we announced new funding for Climate Change All Change, to extend their school-based co-design projects across inner London primary schools. Our backing will help launch a cluster of four schools, enabling children to participate in creative, climate-aware design work.

Closest to our hearts, of course, are our two schools: Stepney All Saints CE Secondary School in Tower Hamlets and the Aldgate (primary) School in the City of London are Outstanding-rated State schools, and part of our Portal Trust family. We’re grateful to all the teachers, parents, Governors and pupils who work together to make them such special places.

This year we were especially pleased to have two sixth-form students from Stepney All Saints carry out work experience here. They made a real contribution to our day to day work: assessing grant applications, crafting social media posts, and telling us all about their challenges and ambitions.

Our Team

In September we said farewell to Amy Cayzer, who's played a transformational role as our first ever full-time Communications Officer since joining two years ago. I know many of our grantees and partners got to know Amy well, and have wished her the very best in her exciting new post.

John Mead has been connected to our charity for decades, including his current role as Portal Trust Buildings Manager, and his many years working across the road at the Aldgate School. I don't know where we'd be without him, and his retirement this Christmas will be the end of an era.

Also this month, Michael Thomas will be coming to the end of his internship in the Grants Team. During his time here Michael made big contributions to our new Grants Strategy and to our Impact Report project, as well as getting stuck into the everyday work of making and monitoring grants.

I'm also delighted to welcome Evie Harrison as our new Communications Officer. Evie is joining us at a busy and exciting time, and she's looking forward to getting out and about around London, to visit projects and build up our network.

Finally, at a time when efforts towards Equity, Diversity and Inclusion have been called into question, I’m proud that we’re going further to embed these principles in our work. Sarwar Zaman, our Board Diversity Champion, gave an inspiring speech at our Impact Report launch, and has been working with determination behind the scenes with myself and our Independent Diversity Consultant, Colleen Harris to ensure everything we do is open, fair, and inclusive.

Thanks for reading, and do stay in contact. Tell your friends, colleagues and fellow educationalists about our work and our funding opportunities, and keep an eye out for more news and announcements during 2026. I can promise you some exciting and ambitious new initiatives. And if you haven’t already, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter!