Is it possible for a normal child from a normal school to get a bursary for a top flight private school?

[Hisnutsroastingonanopenfire]

Idly wondering while reading the thoughts on what schools the royal children will attend and I looked at the schools mentioned, their entrance policies, scholarship and bursary schemes. It's not possible, is it, for a state school educated child to make the leap from what they learn at school to being able to pass those exams. Why don't state schools educate their brightest pupils to these standards? Or coach their sporty pupils to this level? Or support performing arts?

Education is failing our children because of poor funding and we seem to be pulling for a race to the bottom which widens the gap into a complete canyon. What's the answer?

Yes 100 is a guess I will freely admit it, however I know people who went to Christ’s Hospital and that almost needs to be treated differently to say, Eton. It is a very specific thing as well as being a top public school. Especially if you have the mentors who pay your fees which my friend did.

@izimbra You’ve clearly missed the entire point of my post, plus you also clearly don’t really care how accurate your figures and statements are.

You know - the ones who already have their bums in the butter

That’s a disgusting and vulgar comment that speaks of some kind of really nasty attitude towards children and other people in general - so I won’t be engaging with you any more.

And I do hope that you always make absolutely sure that none of those dreadful “children who are high achievers from educated middle class families” with their “bums in the butter” ever do anything for you, like treat you as your doctor in the NHS for example. You wouldn’t want to have anything to do with them.

Christ's Hospital is a different kettle of fish in that it still maintains a principally charity objective, unlike most private schools where charity is largely a fig leaf. Christ's Hospital actively favours kids with potential from challenging backgrounds and very few people pay full fees. Loads of people pay nothing.

Another thing: people on these threads always act like catchment areas are set in stone. There's nothing to stop redrawing catchments to promote social diversity rather than basing them on pure geographical proximity. It's been done elsewhere.

You would need the entire LEA to agree to changing this, though - which is unlikely. Parents have no real input into local authority decisions.

I was talking about the elitist selective schools that royalty use rather than your local private school. There are huge differences within the private sector. I don't know of any schools local to me offering full bursaries in recent years and suspect the numbers being offered will dwindle further in the future, Christ's Hospital being an exception.

The point was that no amount of tutoring will make any difference to a 'normal' pupil's chance of getting a scholarship. The pupils you mention didn't get any tutoring so I feel you missed my point.

@Throughthebluebells
Elton offers full bursaries to around 100 students. It's perfectly possible to go to a top public school from a low income family.

I agree with you though that it will take invested and interested parents to get to that point. At the end of the day, all children do better if they have interested parents, whichever sector they are in.

It helps if your child is a boy in that case

Because that’s not the job of a state school. Also, why would they encourage children to leave when it will mean less funding for them?

Your post makes absolutely no sense. It’s not the job of a state school to prep your child for the entry exam of a selective independent school. They simply don’t have the resources.

You know - the ones who already have their bums in the butter.

What a vile comment.

Eton and few other linked schools do offer means tested bursaries to the King's Scholars but most, if not all of those are awarded to boys aged 13+ that have been through private prep schools. The exams taken in year 8 are highly competitive, and include topics that are not on the state school GCSE curriculum. In fact the papers are generally considered to be the equivalent to A level standard. 11 of the 14 awarded last year came from just three prep schools which shows how narrow their intake really is.

The Rokos Scholarship at Eton provides for a maximum of four exceptionally talented boys from state primary schools each year and for these pupils, the bursaries are also means tested. These places are again highly competitve and only very exceptional children have any chance of receiving a bursary. Although intended for State school pupils, I notice that all three of the 2023 recipients had attended private prep schools between the ages of 11 and 13 (although it is quite likely that these were also fully-funded places).

It would take an very exceptional child to gain a fully-funded place at Eton direct from state school.

@Throughthebluebells
I agree. I know that many will probably be on means tested bursaries at feeder preps (some offer bursary places at Y4 for example)

Most children would benefit only few parents can make it happen.
Most parents simply can't afford it even their chikdren would highly benefit from private education. It's a choice for very few families.

Yep. Mine would have qualified for a sports bursary in nearly every private school I looked at. (She was GB talent pathway at 10, so one of the top 6 kids her age nationally).

to start most of the private schools that offered anywhere near a full sports scholarship were boys schools. Girls tended to offer more arts/drama.

co-ed schools rarely offered full scholarships. Some did means tested but in London if you owned a home, that generally ruled you out of a full bursary as you’d be over “minimum assets”.

i couldn’t afford even a part bursary.

how my neighbour put both her kids through private on an nhs nurse pt wage I have no idea. The school doesn’t offer full bursaries and the kids weren’t at the level that would qualify them anyway.

how my neighbour put both her kids through private on an nhs nurse pt wage I have no idea

Maybe the grandparents paid?

i suspect so. They deny it but if they are they’re not paying for their other daughter’s
children who are in state school (my kids go to school with the sisters, so I know her well).

Probably why they are denying it. Either that, previous inheritance, or family money from dad's side.

I must say, this is so ridiculous. I got maximum academic scholarships at multiple private schools for sixth form having only ever gone to a state school and had zero interview prep or entrance exams revision. If you're intelligent, you'll be fine. Scholarships exist for intelligent or talented children, and those are plentiful in state schools.

Utterly ridiculous. My parents knew nothing of the private school application process; it didn't affect me at all all. I winged all my interviews and exams and got in everywhere I applied with scholarships - this just seems like some nonsense people convinced themselves of after their child does not get into a private school. It isn't even a matter of culture capital; children who have been reading all their life will be able to talk about anything at interview

This thread is about bursaries, not scholarships. Scholarships are reasonably plentiful at private school, but increasingly offer no fee remission. Bursaries are means tested, and are unfortunately harder to get since the introduction of VAT, as many schools are cutting back or are channelling funds towards struggling existing pupils.

Zombie thread.

Well considering I received both max academic scholarships and bursaries to cover the rest, my point still stands completely. Not to mention, any decent independent school would only provide bursaries once a pupil earns a scholarship through scholarship exams and interviews so the two are intertwined. You are correct in that schools increasingly limit how high their scholarship percentage is, mostly to ensure they don't provide fee cuts to parents who can pay, but the rest is made up through bursaries if you are low income.