All our grant programmes are currently closed.
Our projects transform lives through education
By providing grants for educational opportunities and inspirational life experiences, we have helped young people build new skills, provided access to new learning opportunities and enhanced education opportunities for all.
Early Years Education Provision in Brighton & Hove
We are thrilled to be supporting ToyBox, the low-cost nursery/creche at Brighton Women's Centre which offers ’Outstanding’ early years education (Ofsted, 2023) for children facing multiple disadvantages, in the heart of Brighton city-centre. The facility ensures that children from low-income families, who are experiencing multiple challenges (including trauma, abuse, domestic violence, parental addiction and/or mental illness), have access to high quality early years education, giving them the best possible foundation for the future.
Free Life Skills & Wellbeing Sessions for Young People 8-16 Years
Old Boat Community Association have provided a series of free monthly sessions for young people aged 8-16 offering the opportunity to learn about life skills and health and wellbeing issues not normally taught in schools. Nearly 50 young people have benefitted from topics including How the voting system works, Fitness & Finance, Money, Money, Money!, First Aid skills and alternative career opportunities.
Innovative Peer-led Mental Health Support for Primary School Children
A Community Grant is supporting Debbie Stevens CIC to equip more than 70 young people to become 'Wellbeing Ambassadors' in their school's, through the delivery of their innovative '5 Ways to Wellbeing' Programme. The creation of Wellbeing Ambassadors builds sustainable peer-led mental health support networks in primary schools that help equip children with the emotional life skills necessary to build positive mental health and wellbeing.
Myth Monsters! Coming to Hastings and East Sussex Primary Schools
We're excited to be supporting Dens & Signals new project. Myth Monster is a journey into the mind-boggling realm of deep time — the very long, slow time in which our planet and our species evolved — and within which we live our tiny yet brilliant human lives. Part performance, part headphone experience, it’s about us, our ancestors, and how the stories we tell will determine what kind of ancestors we’ll become. Leaving pupils feeling excited about the future. (Photo Credit: Rod Morris)
Creation of a Beautiful Calm Reading Space
Thanks to a Community Grant to match fund monies already raised for the proejct, Benfield Primary School has repurposed an unused classroom into a beautiful calm reading space for their children. The welcoming space is open to children who wish to come and read in break times, as well as providing a much loved space for teaching and learning.
Celebrating Chichester Children’s BookFest!
We were delighted to help Children's BookFest Charity provide nearly 4,000 books to children across the Chichester area primary schools as part of the Chichester Children's BookFest. During the event authors and illustrators celebrated the joy of books with thousands of children, who were also each presented with their own special book to take home.
Financial support for projects and initiatives
We take a partnership approach to our grant giving. By working with established partners, who are right at the heart of the communities they support, we can provide the financial scope to help them realise their projects.
What's new
Stay in the loop with our latest charity news, projects and goings on.
Farm to Fork Day with the Prept Foundation & Plumpton College
Fonthill's CEO and Trustees had a great time visiting Plumpton College in the glorious sunshine for one of the Prept Foundation's 'Farm to Fork' days. The programme for primary school pupils is part of a wider 'Adopt a School's' programme of in-school workshops that are delivered to primary schools across Sussex. The programme aims to help children develop a positive relationship with food, to understand healthy nutrition, grow their cooking skills and to learn where food comes from. All of this as well as growing their understanding of the hospitality industry and future employment opportunites in the sector.
Supporting Spear Brighton Mock Interviews
Trustees and their families were delighted to support the recent Spear Brighton Mock Interview Session. Helping young people on the Spear Foundation programme to develop their confidence and interview skills. We were especially pleased to be supporting this group of young people as they are the cohort funded by our UK programme. It is always a pleasure to be part of this award-winning progamme that has supported hundreds of young people in the Brighton & Hove area to overcome the challenges they face and build vital skills for their career, enabeling them to be fully prepared for the workplace and ready to commit to long-term employment.
New Round of Community Grant Funding
We are thrilled to have awarded fifteen Community Grants in our latest funding round. As always we received a high-level of interest in this programme that offers grants of up to £5,000 to community focused education projects. Recipients include: Varndean College, Dens & Signals, Impact Initiatives, Prison Family Support CIC, Tuppenney Barn Education, Brighton Women's Centre, 1st Petworth Scouts, Brighton Marina Studios Foundation, Priory School, Pregnancy Options Centre, Chichester, Debbie Stevens Wellbeing CIC, Carlton Hill Primary School, Brent Lodge Bird & Wildlife Centre, The Goodwood Education Trust, and Family Support Work.
Visiting Saltpond Education Project, Ghana
During our trip to Ghana we also visited a small education organisation based in the southern coastal region of the Country. Saltpond Education Project (SEP) run a small primary school for children in the rural fishing based communities of the south coast. SEP Happy School provides fee-free education to those who need it most, helping to break the cycle of poverty that often afflicts fishing communities in Ghana. It was a joy to finally get to visit the school after the cancellation of our planned trip back in Spring 2020 due to the pandemic.
PEAS School Improvement Programme, Ghana
During our Ghana trip we travelled to the upper west region to visit project partners PEAS, who have been rolling out a successful pilot project with the local Ghana Education Service and partners, the Savannah Education Trust, to design and deliver a sustainable school improvement programme. We were able to see how the programme is driving sustainable change through it's focus on building school leaders’ capacity to drive long-term improvements, including inclusive teaching practices, robust safeguarding systems and a positive school culture.
Visiting EduSpots in Ghana
Having supported EduSpots for many years we were thrilled to finally visit their community-led education spaces in Ghana this year. Their unique locally-driven model of education supports an extensive network of volunteers known as 'Catalysts' to deliver high-quality education in their communities across rural Ghana, where often mainstream education is of poor quality or lacking all together. It was such a pleasure to meet so many inspirational young people who are dedicated to driving change for a better future.
Project Partner Visit to Sabre Education, Ghana
During our trip to Ghana in October we were delighted to spend time with the Sabre Education Team in Accra who had arranged an impressive two days visiting many aspects of their Early Childhood Education programme. With Sabre Education's support, Ghana is now recognised as a leader in early childhood education in Africa, with two years of free, compulsory kindergarten education supported by a robust national policy and play-based curriculum.
2024-25 Residential Activity Trips Funded
We are delighted to have recently approved funding to support 20 residential outdoor activity trips for some of the most in need primary schools across East and West Sussex. The grants mean that these trips, planned for the 2024-25 academic year, will be fully inclusive for all pupils irrespective of their ability to afford to participate. With school and family budgets being ever squeezed it is so important that learning opportunities outside of the classroom as still available to young people. Activities such as residentials are so valuable in developing self-confidence and life-skills that translate strongly to success in the classroom.
