°®¶¹ÊÓƵ

°®¶¹ÊÓƵ – an independent educational charity 

°®¶¹ÊÓƵ is a leading international exam board publisher and independent education charity, founded in 1872, originally as a department of °®¶¹ÊÓƵ College of Music (now known as °®¶¹ÊÓƵ Laban Conservatoire) and, since 1992, as an independent educational charity registered in the UK. For more about °®¶¹ÊÓƵ’s history, take a look at our Timeline. 

°®¶¹ÊÓƵ was established to advance education for the public benefit, by promoting education, instruction and educational assessment in the performing and creative arts, and language and communication through assessment, content and training which is innovative, personal and authentic.  

Charitable and public benefit activities 

Beyond its direct work in providing assessments in communicative and performance skills internationally, °®¶¹ÊÓƵ has been involved in supporting a wide range of public benefit and charitable activities around the world.  

Music Scholarships: °®¶¹ÊÓƵ makes regular donations to °®¶¹ÊÓƵ Laban Conservatoire, part of which funds scholarships to enable students from a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities to access a Conservatoire education – and the benefits of performing and the creative arts. In 2019, °®¶¹ÊÓƵ was able to help establish a new piano studio for its students with a donation of five new Steinway grand pianos.  

Access Fund (UK and Ireland): this fund supports those who experience barriers to accessing training and qualifications due to socio-economic factors, settlement status, race or faith inequalities, mental or long term health issues, special needs, disability and more. The grant is used to help candidates prepare for and achieve a °®¶¹ÊÓƵ qualification in English Language, Music, Drama or subjects.

Responding to world events and natural disasters: °®¶¹ÊÓƵ is able to use its charitable arm to support those who have been negatively affected by world events and natural disasters, in rebuilding their lives and educational prospects. This has included:  

• Türkiye (Turkey) & Syria (2023): A donation to the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) to support the educational needs of children affected by the devastating earthquakes in both countries.
• Ukraine (2022): a special round of the °®¶¹ÊÓƵ Language Access Fund to help displaced families as a result of the conflict in Ukraine. 
• Sri Lanka bombings (2019): funds to support educational outcomes for children from poor families who were most affected. 
• New Zealand earthquake (2011): donation to Christchurch, New Zealand after the earthquake to assist with the acquisition of a new grand piano for the Christchurch Centre for Performing Arts. 
• Italy earthquake (2009): support for the township of L’Aquila in Italy after a devastating earthquake destroyed much of the town and all but one of its schools. The donated funds were used to create a music studio benefiting the whole community. 

Music education outreach: °®¶¹ÊÓƵ has made regular donations to the in Snape Maltings to support the education arm of the charity. It provides music education to some of the country’s most underprivileged children, working closely with financially challenged schools across coastal and rural Suffolk, as well as nurturing some of the area’s most promising talented young musicians.  

Activities, resources and projects for public benefit: °®¶¹ÊÓƵ is also involved in many activities and projects globally which exist to improve teaching skills and educational outcomes. Some of these include: 

• Progetto Lingue 2000, Italy – °®¶¹ÊÓƵ worked with the Italian Ministry of Education to launch a national initiative to improve the level of English taught in schools. 
• Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) – °®¶¹ÊÓƵ delivered India’s ambitious plan to improve levels of communicative English taught in CBSE schools nationwide through Assessment of Spoken English (ASL). 

Corpus of Spoken English: developed for research purposes by the University of Lancaster and °®¶¹ÊÓƵ, it is now the in the world.