Can anyone suggest an independent school that...

Take it or leave it.

didofido - the Birmingham schools are very tough to get into and passing the exam to get a scholarship even tougher. Unless your DC is exceptionally bright I doubt he wil get an academic scholarship to KES.

What you may want to try is one of the less academic schools in the West Midlands (ie easier to get a scholarship) and also go and talk to schools about bursaries for children from low income families.

The final option is to try and get a job in a private school. I know several parents who do IT, admin and teaching jobs in private schools and get 50% fee reductions as a result.

Don't shoot the messenger.

The whole Charities Commission brouhaha was the last government's ideology that was impossible to enact. It is extremely difficult for a school to either become a charity or to stop being a charity.

If you speak to anyone involved in finances in an independent school, they will tell you that overall discounts should not exceed 10% of fee income in a healthy school. There are plenty of unhealthy schools, financially, btw - but you don't hear about them until they start going tits up. A bursary fund of 5% is enough to satisfy the charity commissioners. This is unpublished information because it is only when a school presents its criteria that the commissioners say yes or no. Now we are a few years down the line from the original initial discussions, 5%, in practice, has been acceptable.

That is not to say that 5% is the level of discount to an individual child. That would be pointless, as the parents would still have to be very affluent to pay the other 95% Most healthy schools will give one bursary per year that is close to full fees (eg 75 - 100%). Some schools have additional income for bursaries, separate to fees, so they may be able to give out more.

Scholarships of 10% are marketing tools for the school, and not to be confused with bursaries. They bump up the fees for everyone to pay for these. If you look at the wide range of school fees charged, you can see which schools give out scholarships as if they were candy. Again, a healthy school will keep a tight reign over scholarships, and probably prefer to give exhibitions instead.

ThaT's the point - I cannot find anything in the Charities Act which stipulates this, or Charity Commission guidance, or recent legal rulings (in fact the latter strongly suggests no such thing), hence need for signposting from you.

I'm mystified by some of what you are posting amerryscot. As I read it, the Charity Commission suggests that schools doing well and providing public benefit tend to offer between 5% and 15% of their income in bursary form, but I can't see any specifics on how big those bursaries should be; only that lack of full-fees bursaries can be a problem for a school's charitable status. The recent judicial review is also clear that schools don't have to rely on bursaries to prove their charitable benefit.

I also can't see any legal requirement that a school have charitable status - they have to apply to pass the benefit test. In reality of course, to compete financially, they would be daft not to try. But if they think that offering more bursaries is the way to go and doesn't affect their legal obligations, why wouldn't they offer them? They are institutions run on a competitive basis. If they think that their full-fee-paying parents can stand the strain, they are free to do that. It's hardly the responsibility of parents applying to the school to exclude their children in case other parents can't manage another above-inflation fee rise.

Meditrina - no, you can google for yourself.

Dido fido - you are talking about exhibitions.

Is it that the Charity Commission will not consider anything smaller than a 5% bursary as eligible for charitable definition?
I can't imagine why they would 'recommend' something so paltry! (paltry in the context of enabling many low income families to afford the fees).

amerryscot: Please could you link the relevant part of the Charities Act?

I was not aware it had anything as specific as the minutiae of %ages for one activity of a minority of charities. Especially as the latest litigation seems to have shown that the provision of bursaries is of itself neither necessary nor sufficient.

The Charities Act recommends 5%. Generous bursaries obviously exceed this amount. Enhancing exam results falls into scholarship territory, not bursary.

Loughborough Grammar School

but no idea about bursaries

King Edwards in Birmingham would be ideal for you. It aims to have 30% of children on bursaries in the future and has a very strong fundraising department to enable them to do this. Their full fees are amongst the lowest secondary fees in the country at around £10k and it is far from struggling. It is incorrect to say that schools should have no more than 5-10% of children on bursaries. There are many leading highly oversubcribed independent schools which have very strong philanthropic leanings with targets of 20-30% of pupils on bursaries.

What age?

The Dragon is a prep school. Is that what you seek, or are you looking for secondary?

Christs has traditionally offered bursaries too most of its children but I too understand that sadly they are slightly moving away from this position.
OP as I'm sure you are aware if your DS is able to win a scholarship then he is more likely to get a bursary this would give you more choices. Most boys who get into Winchester could have got a scholarship into a less academic school.

Think you need to be more specific of your requirements in terms of area, cost, day/boarding etc. ds' school is ostensibly sporty but those not into team sports(rugby & hockey) can opt out and do other pe/fitness from Year 9. ds is dyspraxic and has found the attitude so far accommodating and refreshingly different to his prep.

If you can comfortably afford £31000 + PA another couple of thousand is unlikely to break you but for every 15 parents who do this they are funding a deserving child who can't. Schools like Win Coll St Paul's and Eton are genuinely committed to opening up their marvellous education to those with less money. This was after all what they were originally founded for.

CH runs on endowments and is having to reasses how it will operate in 10 - 20 years times due to the current low interest rates and the bare minimum standards it must provide to satisfy ofsted boarding requirements

As I have pointed out, most schools do not have endowments. Their cash flow is based on current fees.

The Charities Commission have said that 5% fee remission is acceptable. You can't get many substantial bursaries out of that, and very penny above that hurts full fee- paying families.

Most independent schools would love to give up their charitible status, but legally they are not able to do so.

You can look at Christ's Hospital in Horsham if you are happy to consider boarding, it is highly competitive for places though.

Nearly all students pay fees on a means tested basis, they also assess pupils on "boardability" - ie whether they will thrive or not boarding to try and wean out dc that will not be happy there before they are even offered a place.