Absolute Return for Kids (branded as Ark) is an international children's educational charity based in London, UK. Ark is a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

under English law. In its reporting year 2017–18, excluding its few subsidiaries, it saw gross income of £14.66 million and had 42 employees. Ark is the parent organisation of Ark Schools, a separate legal entity that is a

multi-academy trust Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) or academy chain is an academy trust that operates more than one academy school. Academy schools are state-funded schools in England which are directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local aut ...

in the English education system, with 39 schools (as of 14 October 2022) and nearly 30,000 pupils.

History

Ark was founded in 2002 by a group of

hedge fund A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...

financiers including Paul Marshall and Ian Wace of

Marshall Wace Marshall Wace LLP is a British hedge fund headquartered in London, England, founded by Paul Marshall and Ian Wace in 1997. Marshall serves as chairman and chief investment officer, and Wace as a chief executive officer & chief risk officer. The ...

– and

Arpad Busson André Arpad Busson (born 27 January 1963) is a French hedge fund manager, investor, and philanthropist. Busson started working in hedge funds in 1986 in New York. He is the founder and chairman of the EIM Group, a fund of funds company. Busso ...

of EIM Group, founding chairman of the charity's board of trustees. Its aim is to invest

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

(benevolence, gift-giving) to improve, greatly, the life chances of children. Since 2014, the charity has been known as Ark or ARK. Its charitable objects are: "to make sure that all children, regardless of their background, have access to a great education and real choices in life. ark incubates, launches and scales ventures that share our mission and values."

Activities

Ark operates in the UK, South Africa, Zimbabwe and India. In the US, it is affiliated to Absolute Return for Kids US, Inc. (Ark US), a US philanthropic organisation which shares Ark's mission, and which supports the work of Ark through grants.Ark: Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 August 2018. Ark works in education, health and child protection.

Schools

In England, its subsidiary Ark Schools is a multi-academy trust responsible for the schools that Ark runs which, typical of its class, has

exempt charity An exempt charity is an institution established in England and Wales for charitable purposes which is exempt from registration with, and oversight by, the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Exempt charities are largely institutions of furt ...

status since 2011.) Ark Schools was created in 2004 to work with the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education in England, educati ...

and local authorities to create new schools for

inner cities Interior may refer to: Arts and media * ''Interior'' (Degas) (also known as ''The Rape''), painting by Edgar Degas * ''Interior'' (play), 1895 play by Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck * ''The Interior'' (novel), by Lisa See * Interior de ...

through the academies programme. Its aim is to help close the

achievement gap Educational Inequality is the unequal distribution of academic resources, including but not limited to school funding, qualified and experienced teachers, booksphysical facilitiesand technologies, to socially excluded communities. These communiti ...

between children from disadvantaged and more affluent backgrounds. Its academies focus on raising attainment with the aim of every pupil going into

higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

when they complete school. The schools are frequently held up by the government as an example of a successful multi-academy trust, where at least seven others were failing.

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw stepped down in 2016 and was replaced by

Amanda Spielman Amanda Mary Victoria Spielman, Baroness Spielman ACA (born 22 May 1961) is a British civil servant and executive who served as HM Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills from January 2017 to December 2023. She joined the ...

, the founder of Ark Schools and an accountant. As of 2019, Ark runs 36 schools in the English education system, and plans to grow further. It has been, by a sector analyst of a periodical, criticised or seen as unusual for a record of running some schools, as at before 2020 at a deficit, relying on internal loans. In 2022, the Birmingham school Ark Kings Academy was given a funding warning after being found inadequate during an Ofsted inspection. The Ofsted report, published in May 2022, following an inspection in February 2022, said: "Some pupils, particularly those who identify as

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

, experience repeated name-calling and prejudiced behaviour. This means that pupils do not feel safe in the school."

List of Ark schools in England

Primary schools

*Ark Atwood Primary Academy,

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

*Ark Ayrton Primary Academy,

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

‡ *Ark Bentworth Primary Academy, Hammersmith & Fulham *Ark Blacklands Primary Academy,

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

‡ *Ark Brunel Primary Academy, Kensington and Chelsea *Ark Byron Primary Academy,

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

*Ark Castledown Primary Academy, Hastings‡ *Ark Conway Primary Academy, Hammersmith & Fulham *Ark Dickens Primary Academy, Portsmouth‡ *Ark Franklin Primary Academy, Brent *

Ark John Archer Primary Academy Ark John Archer Primary Academy (formerly High View Primary School) is a co-educational primary school and a building located at Plough Road in the Battersea area of London, England. History The school was built in a Flemish Renaissance style f ...

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its name ...

*Ark Little Ridge Primary Academy, Hastings‡ *Ark Oval Primary Academy,

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

*Ark Priory Primary Academy, Ealing *Ark Swift Primary Academy, Hammersmith & Fulham *Ark Tindal Primary Academy, Birmingham‡

Secondary schools

* Ark Acton Academy, Acton, Ealing *

Ark Alexandra Academy Ark Alexandra, previously known as Hastings Grammar School, William Parker School, William Parker Sports College, and later as Ark William Parker is a secondary school in Hastings, East Sussex in the United Kingdom. It was the only male single-s ...

, Hastings‡ * Ark All Saints Academy,

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

*Ark Blake Academy, Croydon *Ark Bolingbroke Academy,

* Ark Boulton Academy, Birmingham‡ * Ark Charter Academy, Portsmouth‡ * Ark Elvin Academy,

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

, Brent *

Ark Evelyn Grace Academy Ark Evelyn Grace Academy is a non-Selective school, selective, coeducational secondary school in Brixton, in the London borough of Lambeth. The Academy is a member of Ark, a multi-academy trust with schools across England. The Academy opened ...

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...

* Ark Greenwich Free School,

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

*Ark Pioneer Academy, Barnet * Ark Putney Academy, Wandsworth * Ark St Alban's Academy, Birmingham‡ *Ark Soane Academy, Acton, Ealing * Ark Walworth Academy, Southwark

All-through schools

* Ark Academy,

, Brent * Ark Burlington Danes Academy, Hammersmith & Fulham * Ark Globe Academy,

* Ark Isaac Newton Academy, Redbridge * Ark John Keats Academy, Enfield * Ark King Solomon Academy, Westminster * Ark Kings Academy, Birmingham‡ *Ark Victoria Academy, Birmingham‡

Boards of Trustees

As of November 2018 the Ark Schools trustees were Ian Wace (Chairman),

Lord Fink Stanley Fink, Baron Fink, (born 15 September 1957), is a British hedge fund manager and parliamentarian, who was formerly CEO of Man Group plc. Created a Life Peer in 2011, Lord Fink sits on the Conservative Party benches in the House of L ...

, Sir Paul Marshall, Anthony Williams and Anthony Clake. In April 2024, Marshall stood down as chair and trustee after being accused of liking and sharing far-right extremist social media posts and conspiracy theories. However, Ark Schools said he had "indicated earlier in the year his intention to step down from the Ark Schools Board". He has remained a trustee of ARK.

sits on the global board and is chairman of Absolute Return for Kids, US, Inc.

References

External links

Ark website

Ark schools website
{{authority control Educational charities based in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2002 2002 establishments in England Charities based in London Founders of English schools and colleges Multi-academy trusts