To not want my personal financial affairs to be pored over by randoms?

[MxGrinch]

i am looking into getting DC into a private school as he is way too clever for his state school.

I knew of one in the next county and discovered they had academic scholarships for Yr9 entry. Had to register with them (non returnable £100 fee! we are a low income family) and arrange for DC to take the entrance test and scholarship assessments which he’ll be doing next month.

I’m obviously nowhere near as clever as DS as I thought a scholarship meant the fees would be paid! It seems they are only 10-20% paid so we will need to apply for a bursary.

I was sent the application form last week and need to return it tomorrow.

They want so much personal information such as 3 months bank statements, full income and expenditures, children’s income and expenditure. debts, car reg and value etc.it’s really flipping complicated and will take ages.

I know they need to assess whether we can afford the fees but seeing as there is no guarantee DC will even pass the entrance test, this is not information I want to share at this point as it may not go any further.

Theg have said if we don’t return it by tomorrow DC may not get a bursary at all.

AIBU to not want to give loads of private info until DS is actually offered a place?

We’ll see if the thread is deleted, if not the latter!

I went to a private school for a few years - you’re going to be sorely disappointed if you think it’s for clever people 😂.

Private school - you play by their rules if you want the money and your child to go there.

"Way too clever for his state school"

Well you've rather got off on the wrong there haven't you.

🤣🤣🤣 maybe OP will home ed super clever DS?

Too clever for state school? What nonsense 😂I was very bright at school, my best friend was nearly genius level and we did absolutely fine at a state school. If you want you can get him some private tuition to help bolster him, me and my friend both did this as we were studying multiple languages at GCSE and A-level.

You’re basically asking for charity and they want to make sure you’re enough of a charity case.

HTH

Or both…

Oh, misunderstood by not reading properly (because I was too annoyed with "too bright for state")

First point is wrong of course.

But you're literally asking them for shedloads of money, so even more unreasonable not to give access to your financial info.

Your choice though. Would seem a shame not to try.

If you're expecting them to make an exception for you, that's not going to happen, there's a process. Fill in the form and send it in on time and have a chance of a bursary, don't fill it in and have zero chance of a bursary, ask your too clever for state school child to explain it to you maybe.

I don’t think OP is quibbling the school’s need to assess her finances in the event of her son passing the entrance exam and being offered a place.

Her issue is with them wanting to assess her finances before he’s even taken the entrance exam.

She has a point.

DC is too clever and very bored. They say why bother to go to school as they’re not learning anything they don’t already know. School said they’d move them into GCSE classes but then backtracked as it wasn’t possible as they’d be 2 years ahead of their peers.

Have you never been on MN before?

Saying your child was too clever for state school was never going to go down well.

I get where you're coming from with the financial information but unfortunately thems the breaks. I don't really see that you have any other option.

Are you unreasonable not to want to give loads of private info until DS is actually offered a place?

No, you are not unreasonable not to want to.

Unfortunately for you, the deadline is the deadline so if you want DS to have a chance of a bursary, you’ll need to fill in the form.

If you don’t want to fill in the form, then you won’t get a bursary. That is not unreasonable.

She doesn't have a point.

Those are their rules.

It's not public sector - they can do what they want. She can choose whether she wants to submit her financial information or not. Her choice.

Yanbu, I went to tesco earlier and the bloody checkout operator was mooching through my shopping, she said it was her job to scan it all, but surely she could have just guessed how much my shopping cost.😡

Maybe the school doesn't want to give an entrance exam to someone who has no hope of affording the fees. If you say you can't afford it and you're not eligible for the bursary, testing him is a waste of their time.

if your child is ‘too clever for state school’ you should have zero concern for their ability to pass an entrance exam. You do realise only the top % of those that pass the exam would be offered the scholarship?

i would expect the £100 covers the cost of the assessments surely They’re not doing it for free!

boredom is not evidence of cleverness. Clever children don't actually get bored at school. I've known hundreds of clever children, and hundreds of parents who claim their children are bored at school "because of high intelligence". There is virtually no overlap between the two groups.

No, of course the child does not need to be put up a year, that doesn't happen in UK state schools. The just need to be broadened in the year they are in. Which will be on offer, if he responds to it.

If you want to be in with a chance of winning the 'prize' you've got to play their game, and they make the rules.

yes....you are being unreasonable

They'll only have so many bursaries that they can offer, they need all the information as soon as they can get it. I don't get why you find this so hard to understand. They're potentially funding tens of thousands of pounds for your son. Just fill in the form!

My brother was too clever for state school. They were well beyond their years in primary, they were looking at moving up a few years. It’s the reason why they went to private and I didn’t. They got a part scholarship. You have to fill in the form if you want a bursary?

I’ve never heard of a state school saying that a pupil is too clever for them.
You do know that the main qualification for private school is the ability to meet the fees?