Our story

On 26th February 2015, 130 guests joined the Urban Partners team to celebrate the launch of their new brand. During the presentation, Haydn Staples, Managing Director Urban Partners, delighted the audience with a surprise announcement that a $1 million fund was being established to support Dilworth School, an institution that Urban Partners has an affinity with – one that has moved with the times yet continues to take a long-term, pragmatic approach to achieving outstanding results. This fund would be used to help selected students as they transition from secondary school, into the world of tertiary education and then into employment.

So was born the Staples Education Foundation.

Dilworth was opened in 1906 and has educated generations of boys whose circumstances meant they needed a helping hand in life. Dilworth has been educating boys of straitened circumstances for over a hundred years. Entrepreneur, philanthropist and co-founder of Urban Partners, Haydn Staples’s affinity for Dilworth’s approach has led him to provide additional support for the students from ‘beyond the green gates’ of Dilworth.

“I was made aware of an opportunity to complement the outstanding education that Dilworth gives its students by facilitating their tertiary education once they leave the supportive environment of Dilworth. Students needed a helping hand through the rigours of the outside world to make the best of their Dilworth education. The gap that the Staples Education Foundation (SEF) fills is as a specialist organisation dedicated solely to enabling high achieving Dilworth student graduates to get a tertiary education, a job and to give back to Dilworth.

The SEF currently funds eight students, four are funded for fees, halls of residence, a buddy (to help and to facilitate choices at University) and a mentor for the duration of their course. An additional four students are provided with buddies and mentors. We plan to grant eight similar Scholarships each year so that within three years we will have twenty four Scholarship winners plus their buddies and mentors for the duration of their degrees, approximately fifty people in all to engage with for the students benefit.

It is a privilege to give a hand to deserving young students. The feedback from participants in the SEF for this our pilot year has been outstanding and I am committed to ensuring the SEF is set up to endure and stand the test of time.”

Click here to read more about the initial announcement on Urban Partners blog.