Latymer Upper

DS has friends who have lived through war zones in Iraq who researched and wrote their own applications for themselves and brought their younger brothers / sisters to the exams to give them a shot. He has friends who do the entire family weekly food shop on their way home and have to take on far more responsibility than the average 16 year old, yet when they tell you they want to be a brain surgeon, you don’t doubt it. They all learn a lot from each other, they really do and it helps them to appreciate the opportunities they have, whether their parents are paying or not. The best thing about the school is it’s diversity and I think you have to embrace that and be honest about your own situation when you apply.

This has long been the ethos of LU. Pay heed to this, OP. Academics are a given at schools like LU, it's the extras that set them apart and these days "extras" means turning out teenagers/young adults with a social conscience and social responsibility (not whatever extra-curricular achievements parents think will garner an Oxbridge acceptance). Bursaries are there to give opportunities to deserving children, and there is never enough money to go round. As such, the school will award them to children who will make the most of them, without detracting from - and ideally contribute to - the school's success in all aspects.

Pick the right school for your son and your family, don't shoe-horn your son into a culture that isn't his or yours.

waiting list, not editing!

I would guess they probably interview the same numbers of girls and boys anew. Don’t they interview something like 450 Out of 1,400 for the 130 places (that was the case some years ago at least)? Then they have another 45 ish coming up from the prep.

Anyway, your DS has done brilliantly to get to this round. God knows what algorithm they use for offers v projected acceptance rates? There will be a editing list too , of course. If there is one tip I could maybe give you though (for what it’s worth from a random on here ), is to remind your son to tell them that if he is offered a place, he will definitely take it as first choice, etc etc. I think part of the interview might be trying to establish who is likely to snap up the places if offered. None of these schools like to think they play second fiddle to others!

Slightly off topic as we're not going for a bursary and I can't imagine DS getting a scholarship (!) but does anyone know if LU interviews more girls than boys as they know the acceptance rate is likely to be lower?
DS has an interview and I know it's trickier for boys to get in in general but wondered if once you've got through to interview stage the odds of a place are roughly the same...clutching at straws!

OP, do also bear in mind that 11 plus boys places at LU are probably more competitive than girls places because most girls applying to LU will also be applying for G&L and SPGS as well which are just down the road. For boys, there’s only Hampton which is miles away and the whole coach thing doesn’t appeal to everyone. Or KCS which also seems quite far out to more central London families. SPS still has very limited places at 11 plus.

Either you meet the bursary criteria or you don’t. If you do, apply.

There is no stigma at all to being on a bursary place. In my DS’ friendship group, there are ones who live in Mayfair and others who live In towerblocks adjacent to Grenfell It’s extremely diverse, but it’s an urban school which reflects London because this is London. The school won a Times award for enabling social mobility, alongside the NHS and the Home Office. I have also had / have children at G&L and SPGS and these schools are less socially diverse, tbh, but trying to make steps in the direction of LU to be more accessible - eg. G&L are now running Saturday classes for local primary school children. This is something LU have been going for some time. At G&L, 10% of children receive bursaries and they are looking to increase this to 25% which is where LU are at. G&L don’t offer academic scholarships at all; there’s only one music scholarship at 11 plus. Following the Grenfell fire, LU accommodated the sixth formers and teaching staff from a college damaged by the fire, so they could finish their A-levels. DS has friends who have lived through war zones in Iraq who researched and wrote their own applications for themselves and brought their younger brothers / sisters to the exams to give them a shot. He has friends who do the entire family weekly food shop on their way home and have to take on far more responsibility than the average 16 year old, yet when they tell you they want to be a brain surgeon, you don’t doubt it. They all learn a lot from each other, they really do and it helps them to appreciate the opportunities they have, whether their parents are paying or not. The best thing about the school is it’s diversity and I think you have to embrace that and be honest about your own situation when you apply. If you won’t consider school fees, then either apply for a bursary or don’t apply, but don’t put him up against thousands of others on the off chance he gets this headteachers award (whatever that is) topped up with a music scholarship. Lots of children apply for music scholarships, but get told not to bother nearer to the auditions, even though their DC might be grade 6/7 on a few instruments which is very good by any standards at 11.

Kingscote - SPS are spending their money wisely and fairly. Is it true that the scholarship badge that JC scholars have to wear costs more then the scholarship?

I give up... I am really trying to control myself here... 🤣🤣🤣

well, if your incoming is increasing in the future, shouldn't you be paying the school fees like everyone else? Why do you think you can continue enjoying the bursary scheme with a higher income?

We have to renew our financial info for the bursary each year. It has gone down and up over the years.

DS has a John Colet plus a small bursary plus a music exhibition (free tuition on one instrument). SPS’s bursary endowment is extremely generous and the boys are continually raising money to increase it.

If there's a significant change in your earnings you'll be asked to pay more fees. Just as if you earn more money you have to pay more tax. That's fair, don't you think?

I absolutely agree with the decision to make scholarship awards token amounts. Two of DS1's friends at his prep received John Colet scholarships which in the past would have meant free school places but now receive a token amount of what was £50 IIRC. Both of these boys came from incredibly wealthy families and it would be ridiculous to use school income to fund their school fees.

I don't understand why OP is so obsessed with the term "100% scholarship" rather than "100% bursary". If you can pass the mean test, then by all means apply for the bursary. If not, that means your family should be able to squeeze out the fees, and you should be paying your fair share of school fees, and give the fund to families who need them more.

OP. A scholarship would give you a one-off payment of £1k

A music scholarship I think you get something like £1k off fees a year and free music tuition (remembering a convo with a mum with child on a music scholarship)

So if you want a heavily subsidised education when you can technically afford the fees then LU is not the school to be targeting, go for one of the others mentioned here. If you are eligible for a bursary then absolutely go for it!

Hi Alwaysfrank! Good to hear from you! Will send you a PM! Hope is OK... Thank you!!!

I know that in the past Hampton have certainly awarded 100% scholarships. One of my older ds's contemporaries had academic plus music plus choral giving total of 100%. They came with significant obligations however, meaning that he had to give up the sport he had been doing outside of school.

Hampton is a great school and I have had sons at both. I know of a couple of other parents in the same situation who both rate Hampton more highly on the academic side.

I only ever heard of significant bursaries at LU.

I tend do agree. DS is being interviewed at LU on Saturday and the more I learn about its commitment to diversity, inclusiveness and social mobility, the more I hope that DS is lucky enough to the accepted. Should this happen we will be working very hard to pay his school fees, as we know that there are many bright DCs out there whose families need any financial support they can possibly get via bursaries (and that is where the funds should go, in our family’s opinion). I am very sorry if this message is too assertive.

The only children I know for whom 100% of fees are covered, are on full bursaries, or a combination of a bursary with a scholarship. They are very motivated young people - eg one wrote their own application form as the parents were not interested. The ethos and motto of the school is “changing lives.” The head grew up locally as is a huge proponent of the “Horizon Fund” which states that, once in the school, no pupil will be denied trips or other opportunities on the basis of finances. So pupils are going all over the world free on various trips, etc. This is how they will distribute funds. They don’t need to give money to those who can pay.

Knowing the school and its ethos, I think it’s very unlikely that they’d give more than 10% off fees for non-means-tested scholarships, even if your dd got both academic and music ones. I wouldn’t apply hoping that would happen, sorry.

Spring - you can’t “apply” for an academic scholarship as such. This will simply be awarded to the top performing pupils out of almost 1,400 who sit the 11 plus. The reason schools such as LU do this is because they know these pupils will almost certainly have offers at other top schools do it’s an attempt to lure them. I don’t know about amounts, but it’s highly unlikely to be anywhere near 100%. Usually, it’s a token amount eg 5% - 10% of fees. There are some music scholarships and these you can apply for.
You can apply for a bursary place if you meet the criteria. LU has more pupils on bursary places than any other similar schools - over 20%. Their whole ethos of the school is allocating finds where most needed.
For instance, pupils who got all 9s at GCSE we’re awarded the title of “scholar” going into sixth form, but this is not a financial award, simply an acknowledgement.
They take in around 30 new students into the sixth form and half of these this year are funded via the bursary fund.

The other thing about bursaries is that there is an annual pot which can be divided in different ways. So one year there might be 10 x 20% bursaries, the next year 2 brilliant kids (with v. poor parents) turn up and they award 2 x 100% bursaries.

I have a couple of friends with kids at LU on 100% bursaries. The school has a very large proportion of kids on bursaries, someone told me they're aiming for one quarter of the intake to receive financial assistance or thereabouts. You have to be means-tested and earn below a certain amount to be eligible.

I also know a couple of families whose children got scholarships. Those aren't means tested but as the website says are a one-off award to children who do brilliantly in the entrance exam. So scholarships aren't about financial aid, they're about glory and they're certainly not going to help you pay the fees long term. The head's discretion bit probably means the child may also be eligible for a bursary, in which case they'll receive one too.

Sorry!!! I meant to write, “which is NOT unreasonable “!!!!