WHO WE ARE
Thomas’s Foundation, a Charitable Incorporated Organisation established in 2018, is the charitable arm of Thomas’s London Day Schools.
Vision & Mission
Thomas’s Foundation is driven by the belief and vision that every child deserves an enriching education.
Thomas's Foundation delivers its vision through three core programmes:
These core programmes provide educational opportunities for children in the local communities of Thomas’s London Day Schools located in Battersea, Clapham, Fulham and Kensington and, overseas, in the remote hill villages of rural Nepal.
Our Values
Kindness lies at the heart of Thomas’s Foundation, reflecting the values of Thomas’s London Day Schools and educating pupils about the importance of giving back to the community, at a local and global level.
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Respect
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Perseverance
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Independence
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Confidence
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Leadership
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Humility
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Givers, not takers
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Kindness
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Courtesy
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Honesty
Thomas's Foundation is committed to operating in a way which is:
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Needs Driven - meeting the specific needs of its beneficiaries
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Collaborative - working with
educational partners in the UK and Nepal who have experience of need at “grass-roots” level.
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High Impact - with clear
beneficial outcomes
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Cost Effective - with transparent processes and clear accountability
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Sustainable - empowering people to help themselves
OUR TRUSTEES
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BEN THOMAS
Chair
VISHAL OBEROI
Co-Chair
CHRIS BENSON
Trustee
CHARLOTTE CASTLE
Trustee
AMANDA CONSTANCE
Trustee
MARK DEARLOVE
Trustee
ROS KING
Trustee
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JOHN MAYNE
Trustee
BUNMI RICHARDS
Trustee
TRUSTEE BIOGRAPHIES
BEN THOMAS, Chair
Ben is a Principal of Thomas’s London Day Schools, and Head of Thomas’s Battersea. He was educated at Eton College, Durham University and the UCL Institute of Education, London, where he gained a Master’s degree in Education.
Ben is the younger son of David and Joanna Thomas, who founded Thomas's in the 1970s. He has been a Principal of the group since 1995 and was Headmaster of Thomas's Kensington from 1995 and Thomas’s Battersea from 1999 to 2017. Ben returned to Head Thomas's Battersea in 2021. He was Chairman of Thomas's Foundation from 2018 to 2021 and is currently Chairman of Trustees at the Katherine Low Settlement, a community centre in Battersea. He is married to Katie. They have three children, a son and two daughters, who are all at university.
VISHAL OBEROI, Co-Chair
Vishal Oberoi is the Chief Compliance Officer of Nexi Group, a European payment services organisation. Prior to joining payments, Vishal spent a decade with Standard Chartered Bank in Asia and Europe, most recently as the bank's Chief Risk Officer covering Group Functions based in London. Vishal has 20 years of leadership experience having worked in Asia, Europe and the Americas across risk management and compliance disciplines. His areas of specialisation include operational/enterprise risk management, financial crime mitigation and regulatory change. Prior to Standard Chartered Bank, Vishal has worked with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citi in Hong Kong and New York City. Vishal currently lives in London with his wife and daughter.
CHRIS BENSON, Trustee
Chris is a Director of Advent International, a global private equity firm. At Advent Chris invests in, and helps grow, a variety of businesses across the financial and business services sectors.
His focus with the Thomas’s Foundation is the expansion of the Bursaries programme. Chris is also a Trustee of the British Friends of Harvard Business School, which provides scholarships for British students to study at Harvard University; was formerly a Trustee of Floreat Education, which set up primary schools in West London; and of Technoserve, a global NGO which promotes business solutions to poverty in the developing world.
Chris has an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Fulbright Scholar, and an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University. Chris is married to Gabriela, and has a daughter and a son.
CHARLOTTE CASTLE, Trustee
Charlotte is Director of Advancement at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, one of the UK's leading drama schools, where she is the executive lead for commercial and philanthropic income generation and marketing & communications. Prior to this she held senior fundraising positions at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the chamber orchestra Southbank Sinfonia. She holds a PG Cert in Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy from the University of Leeds and a BMus from the Royal Northern College of Music. She was a 2021 Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy Senior Fellow, a 2015 Clore Emerging Leader and a previous Trustee of artist-led charities Filthy Lucre and The Berkeley Ensemble.
AMANDA CONSTANCE, Trustee
Amanda is communications specialist with more than 25 years’ experience as a journalist working across news, lifestyle, and education. She built a successful brand of magazines called Absolutely Education and British Education and has been Head of Media at the Girls’ Day School Trust and Director of Communications at Dukes Education. She now runs her own PR and communications consultancy for the education sector. Amanda is married with three children and lives in London.
MARK DEARLOVE, Trustee
Mark spent 35 years in the Financial Services sector retiring at the end of 2019. During his career he was based in both London and Tokyo. He is married with three children all of whom attended Thomas's Battersea. Mark is chair of the board of trustees for SMA UK. Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a rare, genetically inherited neuromuscular condition.
ROS KING, Trustee
Most recently she was EVP Global Clients at Publicis Groupe, which is one of the world’s largest advertising holding companies (turnover €12billion). There she was responsible for bringing the best of the Groupe’s capabilities to their largest global clients. Previously she was Director of Communications and Innovation at Lloyds Banking Group and the first female Managing Director of J Walter Thompson London and the President of J Walter Thompson Chicago.
Ros sits on the Court of St Andrew’s University and previously served on the Council of King’s College London for 9 years. She is now a Fellow of King’s College. She is currently on the Council of Marlborough College and previously was a governor of King’s Maths School, which was awarded “Sixth Form College of the Decade” by the Times. She also Chaired the Church of England Digital Reference Group.
Ros read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at St Anne’s College Oxford. and is married with two grown-up children who both attended Thomas’s Battersea.
JOHN MAYNE, Trustee
John is a Managing Director at J.P.Morgan Cazenove, where he leads the investment banking relationships with a number of UK clients, and Chairs various internal risk committees. He has been at the firm for over 30 years, and previous roles include being Head of Debt Capital Markets at J.P.Morgan Cazenove and a member of the firm's Executive Committee.
John also sits on the Board of Cazenove Capital Trust (whose policy is to provide grants to charitable causes), and previously sat on the Board of Shooting Star Chase for a decade, a children’s hospice charity. He is a graduate of Oxford University.
John is married to Alison, and they have four children, two sons and two daughters, all of whom went to Thomas’s Battersea.
BUNMI RICHARDS, Trustee
Bunmi Is married with two children. She is the headteacher of an award-winning, community primary school in Battersea. It is the first school in the UK to be awarded the prestigious LabelfrancEducation, granted to schools outside France offering a bilingual curriculum of extremely high quality. Bunmi has 17 years of headship experience. She is the headteacher representative on the Wandsworth Virtual School Management Board which has the responsibility of ensuring that some of the most vulnerable children reach their full potential.