Clore Duffield to invest £5m in school trips to museums

The Clore Duffield Foundation has announced a £5m fund to support schools to take students on trips to museums, heritage sites and other curriculum and enrichment experiences over the next five years.

The funding will focus on schools in specific priority local authorities in England, with £1m available in the first year for between eight and 10 schools in Blackpool and Cornwall. The money will provide six fully-funded off-site trips a year for every child in primary schools and at least three off-site trips for every child in secondary schools each year.  

The money comes at a time when many schools are struggling to afford the cost of school trips particularly when hired coaches are required for transportation. Last year, English Heritage said the cost of trips to its sites had increased by 63% in three years – leading to a 28% drop in school visits.

Clore Duffield has also announced that it will expand an extracurricular arts programme piloted in Ark schools in Hastings last year to include Ark schools in Portsmouth this academic year. It aims to engage with every school in the Ark network by July 2027. 

Kate Bellamy, the director of the Clore Duffield Foundation, said its aim was to find a “scalable way to give rich arts and cultural experiences to all children”.

“We are committed to using these projects as drivers for systemic change, creating a blueprint for how schools can effectively implement a similar approach,” she said. “We intend to continue our commitment to cultural learning for all children regardless of where they are in the country and their home circumstances.”

The foundation marks its 60^th anniversary this year.

“I always remember the excitement of my childhood visits with my school, opening the door on another world, giving me a life-long passion for the arts and a belief in the power of cultural experiences to transform young lives,” said its chair, Vivien Duffield.