Clara Martineau Charity
Charity 1040051
Overview
Summary
Clara Martineau Charity appears to be a narrowly focused grant-making charity supporting children and young people with special educational needs in Birmingham’s maintained-school system. Its role seems to sit alongside, rather than replace, statutory education: it directs charitable support toward residential education and leisure opportunities intended to improve beneficiaries’ wider conditions of life. The available evidence suggests a highly defined beneficiary group and geography, but offers little visibility of its grant strategy, partners or practical reach.
Operational geography
Evidence and reasoning
Supporting evidence
Perry Common
Confidence: medium
The charity's latest published accounts record a £15,000 grant to Wilson Stuart during the year ended 31 March 2025. Birmingham City Council identifies Wilson Stuart School as a special school in the Perry Common ward. This is direct evidence of grant-funded activity at a local delivery site, although the accounts do not confirm that funding continues there in 2026.
- Clara Martineau Charity, Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2025
The trustees approved £160,429 in grants for residential education and recreational or leisure experiences for young people with special educational needs, including £15,000 to Wilson Stuart. - Birmingham City Council, Wilson Stuart School directory record
Wilson Stuart School is listed in the Perry Common ward.
Lozells
Confidence: medium
The latest published accounts record a £15,500 grant to Mayfield during the year ended 31 March 2025. Birmingham City Council places Mayfield School in the Lozells ward. This evidences grant-making reach rather than a charity-run site.
- Clara Martineau Charity, Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2025
The grants-awarded note lists a £15,500 grant to Mayfield. - Birmingham City Council, Mayfield School directory record
Mayfield School is listed in the Lozells ward.
Gravelly Hill
Confidence: medium
The latest published accounts record a £17,000 grant to Queensbury during the year ended 31 March 2025. Birmingham City Council records Queensbury School in the Gravelly Hill ward. The evidence supports grant-funded activity at the school, but not a permanent charity presence there.
- Clara Martineau Charity, Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2025
The grants-awarded note lists a £17,000 grant to Queensbury. - Birmingham City Council, Queensbury School directory record
Queensbury School is listed in the Gravelly Hill ward.
Allens Cross
Confidence: medium
The latest published accounts record a £10,229 grant to Victoria during the year ended 31 March 2025. Birmingham City Council identifies Victoria School as a special school in the Allens Cross ward. This is evidence of funded delivery through a local school rather than direct delivery by the charity.
- Clara Martineau Charity, Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2025
The grants-awarded note lists a £10,229 grant to Victoria. - Birmingham City Council, Victoria School directory record
Victoria School is listed in the Allens Cross ward.
Billesley
Confidence: medium
The latest published accounts record a £10,000 grant to Dame Ellen Pinsent during the year ended 31 March 2025. Birmingham City Council records The Dame Ellen Pinsent School in the Billesley ward. This establishes recent grant-funded activity at that site, but not whether it receives recurrent support.
- Clara Martineau Charity, Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2025
The grants-awarded note lists a £10,000 grant to Dame Ellen Pinsent. - Birmingham City Council, The Dame Ellen Pinsent School directory record
The Dame Ellen Pinsent School is listed in the Billesley ward.
Remaining uncertainties
- The evidence supports a citywide grant-making role rather than direct service delivery by the charity itself: the Charity Commission records Birmingham City as its area of operation, and the 2025 accounts show grants to special schools in several separated wards. However, the published accounts do not provide a complete list or map of all grants below £10,000.
- The named ward entries are a selective set of well-evidenced 2025 grantee locations, not a complete account of every area reached by the charity.
- The charity has no employees and the Charity Commission states that it does not own or lease land or property. Its correspondence address should therefore be treated as an administrative address, not an operational site.
- Birmingham City Council materially supports the charity's administration, secretarial, financial and legal functions and has trustee-appointment powers under the trust deed. This is a significant administrative partnership, but the available evidence does not show that it creates additional distinct service locations beyond the charity's Birmingham-wide grant-making remit.
- The latest available accounts cover the year ended 31 March 2025 and were approved on 20 August 2025; they do not establish which individual schools have received grants during 2026.
Additional evidence needed
- The charity's most recent trustees' report and grant-award schedule, identifying all awards made after 31 March 2025, their recipient organisations and project locations.
- Current grant guidance or application material clarifying whether all Birmingham special schools and schools with specialist resource bases are eligible, and whether any geographic prioritisation is applied.
- Confirmation from the charity or Birmingham City Council of whether its correspondence address is solely an administrative arrangement and where trustee meetings or grant administration are conducted.
Areas of work
- Education/training
Who they help
- Children/young People
- People With Disabilities
How they help
- Makes Grants To Organisations
Discoveries involving this organisation
The Atlas has not published any Discoveries involving this organisation yet.
Observations
A targeted complement to public education
The charity appears designed to add resources around education for pupils with special educational needs, rather than provide education directly. Its restriction to schools maintained by Birmingham City Council suggests an operating model closely bounded by the local state-school system.
Why it matters
This helps distinguish the charity from general disability or youth charities: its potential value may lie in supporting needs that schools and public provision do not fully meet.
Show evidence
“Promotes the education of children under 19 with special educational needs attending educational institutions within the area of benefit.”
Source:Charity Commission“Promotes residential education for children under 19 with special educational needs attending schools maintained by Birmingham City Council.”
Source:Organisation
Education is understood as more than classroom provision
The charity’s remit joins residential education with recreation and leisure, indicating that it may view participation, social experience and quality of life as connected to educational opportunity.
Why it matters
This broader framing may make the charity a potentially relevant partner for organisations offering accessible activities, respite-like opportunities or inclusive enrichment, not only educational support.
Show evidence
“Provides facilities for recreation and leisure-time occupation to improve beneficiaries’ conditions of life.”
Source:Charity Commission“Provides recreation and leisure opportunities for the same children.”
Source:Organisation
Its influence is likely exercised through other organisations
As a grant-maker to organisations, the charity appears to influence opportunities for children indirectly, through funded schools or other delivery bodies rather than through a visible direct-service model.
Why it matters
Understanding its grantee relationships would likely reveal more about its practical role in Birmingham’s special educational needs ecosystem than its formal objects alone.
Show evidence
“Makes grants to organisations.”
Source:Charity Commission“Works in education and training.”
Source:Charity Commission
- Which organisations receive grants and whether they are schools, specialist providers or community groups.
- Whether residential education and leisure support receive equal practical emphasis.
- The scale, frequency and geographic reach of grants within Birmingham.
Remaining uncertainties
- Recent annual reports, accounts and grant lists showing recipients, amounts and purposes.
- Trustee reports or funding guidance explaining priorities, eligibility and decision-making.
- Evidence from funded organisations about outcomes for children and young people.
Additional evidence needed
Charity Commission profile
Activities
Promote the residential education of children under the age of 19 years who have special ed. needs, and who are attending any school maintained by Birmingham City Council as local education authority. To provide facilities for recreation and other leisure time occupation for the benefit of such children with the object of improving their condition of life, with the same priority as aforesaid
Charity objects
1.TO PROMOTE THE EDUCATION (INCLUDING THE SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL TRAINING)OF CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 19 YEARS WHO HAVE SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND WHO ARE ATTENDING ANY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION WITHIN THE AREA OF BENEFIT. 2.TO PROVIDE FACILITIES FOR RECREATION AND OTHER LEISURE TIME OCCUPATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF SUCH CHILDREN WITH THE OBJECT OF IMPROVING THEIR CONDITIONS OF LIFE.