OG Toby Sutton receives OBE

News > OG Toby Sutton receives OBE

Congratulations to OG Toby Sutton (T 1989 – 94) on receiving an OBE in the New Year Honours List.

Co-founders of one of the UK’s leading assistive technology companies, Scanning Pens, were both honoured with an OBE on Friday 30th December. Jack Churchill and Toby Sutton received this honour as a result of ‘services to international trade, and to the dyslexia, and special educational needs and disabilities community’.

Over the last 20 years, Jack Churchill – who himself is dyslexic and Toby Sutton have built an assistive technology powerhouse at the heart of the dyslexia and special needs communities. Scanning Pens is an organisation that provide portable text-to-speech pen scanners which empower young and adult readers by giving them the tool to instantly access printed text anywhere.

This assistive technology is now used daily by thousands of schools, in the workplace, and even in prisons. The organisation has for many years been active both in the UK and in more than 100 countries. More than 50% of the company’s business is attributed to international trade; this success has been reflected in two BETT award wins: Exporter of the Year 2019, and Company of the Year 2020. In 2021, Scanning Pens received the most prestigious accolade in British business when it received The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise.

The recipients made a shared statement: “To say we are honoured by this announcement is an understatement. When we first started this venture over 20 years ago, we saw the opportunity to establish a business that could help millions of individuals with their literacy needs. Looking back, it is fantastic to know that through our technology we have supported so many to succeed. The success of Scanning Pens has allowed us to establish a goodwill organisation, Succeed With Dyslexia, which has made a reality of our wish to spread awareness around dyslexia through positive stories within this often-forgotten community. Without the support of our families and the whole team, neither of us would be receiving an OBE today. We look forward to many years ahead as we drive our business forward, whilst at the same time helping even more individuals in their daily lives.”

A significant donation – US scholarships at Gresham’s

News > A significant donation – US scholarships at Gresham’s

Earlier in the year the Gresham’s Foundation received a remarkable donation from a most generous Old Greshamian (OG). £1 million was donated to endow a scholarship programme that will give US pupils the chance to come and study at Gresham’s.

The donation will ensure the scholarship programme will be in place in perpetuity. It will restart the influential English-Speaking Union programme (ESU) at Gresham’s – a programme that a great number of OGs were a part of when they came to the School from the US between 1960 and 1998. The donor wishes to remain anonymous.

Douglas Robb, the Headmaster, said: “We are thrilled to be in receipt of such a generous donation, and most grateful to the OG for having revived and endowed a scholarship programme that was in place at Gresham’s for many years and which had a lasting impact on the School community. Their support will ensure there will always be a US scholar at the School, giving them the chance to expand their horizons and benefit from a Gresham’s education before they embark on the next stages of their educational and professional journey. The scholars will enrich our community, and the programme will also enable us to strengthen our ties with leading US institutions. We look forward to welcoming our first scholar next year.”

The programme will see one student per year from one of the ESU’s US partner schools come to Gresham’s upon completion of their studies at high school. Each scholar will stay at Gresham’s for one academic year, with the first scholar joining the School in September 2023.

Separate to the endowed scholarship, there will also be an opportunity every year for current Gresham’s pupils to apply to study at a US high school for a year. Although the ESU offers a smaller number of fully funded scholarships for UK students to go to the US, the School’s hope is that a number of pupils over the coming years will be successful in applying for a scholarship and thereby get to experience the final year of high school in a prestigious US institution.