Discover the World with our Travel Scholarship!

Leighton Park’s Travel Scholarship is the second-oldest award in the school’s history, having been established in 1926. Each year, the school allocates £2,000 to support successful applicants, enabling them to pursue meaningful travel experiences and making significant contributions to students’ education and career interests.

The Travel Scholarship is extremely valuable to interested students as it cultivates essential life skills like adaptability, empathy and problem-solving. It invites people to be curious about other cultures and, as it has been said by different leaders, is the best antidote against prejudice such as xenophobia, racism and/or inequality.

It also helps financially to those students whose applications demonstrate the impact the travelling would have in their professional and personal future. We have supported a variety of different travelling experiences, from learning Meditation in India, following the steps of a writer and rediscovering family roots, to trips of self-discovery such as the Way to Santiago in Spain or the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage in Japan.

Last year’s two Travel Scholars, Alex and Diana, embarked on very different yet equally enriching adventures. Alex reflected: “I used the scholarship to travel from the north to the south of Norway by train. The experience taught me vital organisational skills, and I appreciated the importance of travelling slowly and taking in the distance I covered, rather than just flying from point A to point B. Furthermore, I was so inspired by my trip last summer that I have booked a second Interrail trip, which will take me across France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, to spectate the World Climbing Series Innsbruck in June this year!”

Diana, meanwhile, explored Japan, immersing herself in its culture and traditions, and gaining a deeper understanding of a society very different from her own.

Pablo Gorostidi, Chair of the Travel Scholarship Committee, highlights a favourite quote by Mark Twain that captures the spirit of the award: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines! Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover!”