Investing in the Women of the Future (Leaving a Gift in your Will)
Throughout Manchester High School’s 150-year journey, we have focused on creating a place where talented girls of any faith and background can flourish.
Now, we need your help to secure this future for our region’s brightest girls.
Manchester High girls are confident and passionate, ambitious and curious. They have a love of life, a caring spirit and a drive to play a positive role in the world around them.
"It is our duty to make the world a better place for women." - Christabel Pankhurst, Class of 1897.
To ensure that we can continue to encourage girls of the future to become these agents of change, we need to continue to invest in our student community through bursaries as well as investing in pioneering, innovative and dynamic learning experiences. That means both building new facilities and improving aspects of the current site; from providing further pastoral and sporting opportunities, to planning a permanent outdoor canopy that can be used for social gatherings, teaching and performing.
We also need to support talented girls from across the region with means-tested bursaries, awarded on academic merit, which in turn contribute to driving an atmosphere of aspiration and academic achievement.
Can you make an investment in the next 150 years of pioneering women?
What can you back them to become? What can you help them to achieve?
A gift in your will could help change a girl’s life
Legacy donations are a meaningful and enduring gift. All bequests, of any size, directly benefit future generations of Manchester High students.
We understand that not everyone can afford to give right now, and that when the time comes, loved ones must be your first priority. But once you have provided for them, even a small amount left in a will can make a profound difference to a future student.
"I think about my bursary donors a lot, and what they invested in me. I’m now able to pay that forward on their behalf. To me, they’re the champions of girls’ education. They are a group of individuals who had the foresight to recognise that how we build skilled, successful and thriving societies is through the education of girls." - Dr Seher Ahmad, Chair of Primary Care Cleveland Clinic, Abu Dhabi, MHSG Bursary Recipient, Class of 2001.
Whether you would like to change your will to support bursary funding or major school projects or wish to make a will to include the School, please speak with your solicitor.
If you would like to donate directly to school projects, please provide your solicitor with the Registered Charity Number for the School: 1164323.
If you would like to support the Bursary Fund, please provide your solicitor with the Registered Charity Number for the MHSG Bursary Fund: 506823.
As a registered charity, any gift left in a will to MHSG would be exempt from inheritance tax.
"The Bursary Fund has already had a huge impact on my life, and I think it will continue to. It’s given me this foundational confidence, given me courage, and self-belief, and it’s inspired me to help other people in a similar position." - Natalie, MHSG Bursary Recipient, Head Girl 2023-24.
Join our Ivy Leaf Society
Our Ivy Leaf Society includes those who have decided to leave a gift to the school in their will. It is a special community, bonded by the passion we share for investing in the talented girls of our region.
All society members receive special invitations to school events, like our annual spring lunch with the Head Mistress to talk about ongoing plans and activities.
"I had such a great time at school that I wanted to be able to give someone who may not be able to, the same experience and opportunities. Its inspiring when the Head Mistress talks about the School aiming towards eventually being ‘needs blind’. It’s so important to be able to give back and ensure that the very best and brightest young pupils can excel and be empowered by a school like Manchester High." - Rachel Peynado (Hardy), Member of the Ivy Leaf Society, Class of 2008.
Members also receive our gold-coloured ivy leaf pin, first introduced as the school’s emblem in 1899, to represent students’ ‘faithfulness to the school and to themselves’.
The names of all society members (should they wish), are displayed on a plaque in the main reception of the School.
To be part of the Ivy Leaf Society, all you need to do is let us know you are leaving a gift in your will to the school – joining the 57 current members who have done the same. (We do not need you to tell us the amount you plan to leave).
Establish your legacy today, and leave your positive stamp on the future. As a registered charity, any gift left in a will to MHSG would be exempt from inheritance tax.
If you would like a confidential discussion about leaving a gift in your will, please contact the Director of Development, Mrs Zabina Kosar-Ahmed, on 0161 224 0447 or email [email protected].
The importance of making a will
Making your will now will give you the peace of mind to know that your loved ones will be looked after, and your wishes will be carried out after your death. You can update your will at any time, if and when your circumstances change.
There are a number of specific reasons for making a will:
1. If you do not make a will, you have no control over how your estate passes. None of your estate would pass to charitable causes.
2. Planning your will carefully can lead to a large saving in inheritance tax.
3. You will be able to pass your estate to people and organisations you most want to help, and in whatever proportions you choose, thus helping to protect beneficiaries who need help.
4. You choose who you wish to be in charge of administering your estate. These people are called your Executors and in most professionally drafted wills, they would also be called your Trustees.
We recommend you seek advice from your solicitor in drawing up your will as all solicitors are required to be fully regulated by the SRA.
If you have not yet made a will, but this has prompted you to do so, please contact your solicitor. If you wish to amend your will to include Manchester High, please fill out a codicil form and have this witnessed by your solicitor.
"Thank you, you have changed my life." - Orla, Mathematics Student, MHSG Bursary Recipient, Class of 2022.
