The application deadline for the 2023–24 academic year is 4 March 2024.
Plymouth Astor Trust (VHS) Scholarships Bursary
Previously, bursaries were provided by the Nancy Langhorne Astor Scholarships Trust. The Trust has been closed and resources transferred to the Plymouth Astor Trust (VHS) which is now funding bursaries.
The Plymouth Astor Trust (VHS) is providing generous financial support for students each academic year relating to their interests in the care and education of young children (0–8 years). The trustees are particularly interested in supporting students to access experiences abroad that they would not otherwise be able to do.
Successful applications in previous years have funded study trips abroad to The Gambia and Prague as well as Forest School and Beach School Training, and Introductory Courses in Play Therapy as well as Makaton, and Paediatric First Aid courses, and costs associated with research activity.
Lady Nancy Langhorne Astor
The Plymouth Astor Trust (VHS)
In 1918 the Astors bought the Victory House Boys and Girls’ Club (or Victory Club) and in the mid-1920s they acquired the old Batter Street Congregational Chapel, 38 Looe Street. They converted these buildings and linked them together to form the original core of the Virginia House Settlement. Their vision was to create facilities for the local people and to give opportunities for training, employment, entertainment and socialising. The VHS’s facilities included a meeting room, gymnasium, billiard and social room, a library, music room and a dance hall. There were smaller rooms where cooking, carpentry, dressmaking and singing classes were held; writing classes were held in the library.
In more recent years, the trust have sold a number of the buildings and invested the funds raised; it is the income from these investments that is used today to fund grants to local charities.
Since 2006, The Plymouth Astor Trust (VHS) has awarded nearly £409,000 in grants with 62 organisations benefiting. The Trustees have a wide range of experience in business, property, PR, Academia and Social Welfare. The Trustees are blend of youth, male and female. In 2019 Virginia House Settlement became “The Plymouth Astor Trust (VHS)” and intends to continue to support the less fortunate in the city for many years to come.
In 2023 the Nancy Langhorne Trust was closed and its resources transferred to the Plymouth Astor Trust (VHS). The Plymouth Astor Trust (VHS) is funding bursaries from the income generated from these resources.
Nancy Langhorne Astor
Nancy Langhorne Astor entered politics in 1919 and was the first woman to sit as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons serving as MP for Plymouth Sutton until her retirement from politics in 1945. In 1939 her husband Waldorf was elected Lord Mayor of Plymouth and supported by Nancy they served the city for five years during the second world war.
During Nancy’s parliamentary career she gained attention as someone who championed temperance, women's rights and benefits for children. Nancy supported the development of nursery schools for London's poor children, a project organised by Margaret McMillan. In addition to her usual philanthropic fundraising, she led ministerial delegations for the Nursery School Association, made speeches in parliament and in 1934 published a memorandum calling for the universal provision of nursery schools.
At the heart of her ‘women’s’ politics was a concern with poor households, a subject on which she was far more radical than most in her party at the time. She was passionate about housing and with Waldorf’s capital, built model homes for the poor of Plymouth (Mount Gould). She was also preoccupied with the education of the poor, sharing the McMillan sisters’ vision of nursery schools as a route out of ill-health and poverty. As well as founding some nurseries, she helped the McMillan sisters to establish a training college for nursery school teachers.
Nancy Astor: the first woman to sit in the House of Commons 1919–1945 (UK Parliament)
On 28 November 1919 Nancy Astor was elected as MP for Plymouth Sutton.
This film gives an insight into her interests and achievements and includes first-hand accounts from those who knew her.
Read about our students' experience
Beach School Leader training
Alexandra Perrin
“I used the Nancy Astor Bursary to enroll in a Level 3 Beach School Leader training course.
“I used the Nancy Astor Bursary to enroll in a Level 3 Beach School Leader training course.
This course provided me with a deeper understanding of Beach Schools, which I had been increasingly interested in since doing my placement last semester.
I look forward to completing my portfolio and getting my certificate and I hope to find my footing in the world of outdoor education. I would not have been able to complete this without the help of this bursary and I am thrilled to have reached one of my dreams of becoming a Beach School Leader.
It seemed like an unreachable pipe dream of mine and I feel incredibly grateful to have been helped by the bursary in this way. Because of this, I would highly encourage anyone who is on an education-related course to apply for the Plymouth Astor Trust (VHS) Scholarship Bursary (previously Nancy Astor Bursary) if they have a dream they hope to achieve that feels impossible due to finances.”
A trip to The Gambia
Kayleigh Royle
“The bursary enabled me to go on a trip to The Gambia where I visited schools, nurseries, and a women’s refuge. The children were friendly and able to play with us. We sang and taught them English songs as they taught us Gambian ones.
Pictures by Kayleigh Royle
In some schools the buildings were falling apart, and the ‘football field’ was some sand around the back but the pupils were happy and the faculty were grateful with the little that we were able to give.
The woman’s cooperative started as a refuge for women who were leaving their husbands and had become a community of women working together on the land to grow and harvest crops to sell to restaurants and at the markets.
It was amazing, so welcoming and joyous and we were able to look around before participating in a song and dance with them.”
Should you have any questions about applying for the Plymouth Astor Trust (VHS) Scholarships Bursary, please contact plymouthastorscholarship@plymouth.ac.uk.
Eligibility criteria
According to the terms of the trust agreement applicants should normally:
- Be studying within the Plymouth Institute of Education.
- Be enrolled on one of the following programmes:
BA (Hons) Early Childhood Studies
BEd (Hons) Primary (Early Childhood Studies)
Travel and other expenses deemed part of a student’s programme requirements are not eligible for a bursary.
Application process
1. There are certain eligibility criteria for receiving a bursary. Before completing your application, you should check your eligibility (see the previous section).
2. Your application must be supportedby a reference from your Personal Tutor indicating how long they have known you and containing a brief statement of support for your application.
3. As soon as you decide to apply for a bursary you should approach your Personal Tutor and ask them to send the reference to plymouthastorscholarship@plymouth.ac.uk.
4. Applications not completed on the application form downloaded from the Plymouth Astor Trust (VHS) Scholarship Bursary page of the University website will not be accepted.
5. Complete all the fields on the application form as fully as possible and ensure that all typed words in the open comment boxes are visible.
6. Submit your completed
application form
to plymouthastorscholarship@plymouth.ac.uk by the closing date at 15:00. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.
7. Application forms will be reviewed by a selection panel (the Trustees and/or their representatives) and applicants will usually be informed of the outcome of their applications by email before the Christmas break.
8. A one-off payment of up to £750 will be awarded to successful applicants towards costs associated with the activity being considered. In exceptional circumstances the amount of the award may be increased subject to the discretion of the trustees.
9. The sum awarded will usually be credited to a bank account held in the name of the applicant within six weeks of being notified of a successful application.
Should you have any questions about applying for the Plymouth Astor Trust Scholarships Bursary, please contact plymouthastorscholarship@plymouth.ac.uk.