[1][2] It provides education and care for boys with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD).

In 1919, the Boothroyd buildings were handed over to the Trustees, and was opened on 31 July 1920 as an orphanage for girls, but soon admitted boys.

On William Smith's death in 1922, he left the bulk of his estate to the Trust;[10] money that would have gone to his cousin’s son William Henry Smith,[11] who was killed in Action during the First World War.

After the Second World War, the Trustees were forced to reconsider the role of the Trust.

The last of the children from the orphanage left in 1959 and in September 1961 a residential special school for boys, named after William Henry Smith, was established on the site by the Trust.