Asking too much to get a private school place?

[Twentythirdtry]

If there’s a child in a private prep whose parents receive no financial help for this, are they unreasonable to believe they have any chance of securing a bursary for senior school?

• the child is awaiting diagnosis for ASD
• quite exceptionally talented in art and current head believes there’s a chance to secure art scholarship.
• just above average CAT scores (tad below in verbal reasoning) so likely to pass entrance tests

parents are facing mounting debt (including utility bills) funding his current school place, and often go without basic and necessities for themselves. The parents rent, don’t own a car, don’t have any savings capital or investments, have no family to ask. One parent is a full time carer for a severely disabled relative and the other parent earns 45k pre tax with sometimes 100 hours overtime each month.

senior school place would be entirety of fathers post tax income per annum

difference in the child’s academic and social development since moving to prep has been noted by teachers as commendable.

Child did not cope well in State primary due to bullying and local secondaries have a growing problem with knife crime.

given some parents own homes/mortgages, equity, savings, car(s), not in debt etc, and moderate incomes, and are granted bursaries…

would the child be likely to be granted a bursary? If so, would this be likely a large or small bursary/any idea of percent?

You need to be more honest with head, to get better, more practical advice.

Your Education lawyers are advising you incorrectly. I refer you to education act, CAFA, send code of practice, equality act etc.

If you can evidence that there are no other schools with a place that can meet need and the independent school make an offer you can absolutely have it named on an ehcp.

That is not the same as getting help with fees.

Ok….im going from what I was told by 3 education lawyers and the 2 local support organisations that I talked to about seeing whether we could get help with my child’s school fees. All said that it was unheard of and simply wouldn’t happen. The only way I’d get a private school place paid for would be for a special school or for a specialist school for children with neurodiversity and/or mental health issues, no chance of getting fees paid just for the smaller class sizes.

Yes, in the last two years particularly, most LAs are so cash strapped, I would say this would be very difficult to secure.

Difficult is not impossible. And many specialist provision places are as expensive or cost more. I work in a school and we have just transferred a student with an ehcp to a named independent school. The fees of that are £11000 per term. Her provision within mainstream was costing £39000. They have saved money. And the independent - unlike us - can actually provide everything in section F.

Sports/academic based fee reductions are scholarships rather than bursaries. Bursaries are means tested, scholarships are on solely merit. But scholarships tend to only be around 10% of the annual fee anyway - it’s more of a prestige thing.

Yes that’s how I understood it too, but many people here are saying bursaries will only go to children with exceptional talent and highly academically gifted so they’re basically scholarships?

Her provision within mainstream was costing £39000.

Are the school putting substantial additional support in for your son's special needs, @Twentythirdtry ?

Yes, so far he’s had support with everything he’s needed, from emotional literacy to dyspraxia, (unlike state primary whereby no extra support was given at all) and currently his dad is funding extra 1-1 support also.

That’s not true.

Schools all have their own criteria but broadly if you meet the overall entrance criteria and the bursary criteria, and the school feel the child will be a good fit, you would be offered one. However, if ten children are competing for two bursary places and your child was ranked 4th in terms of ability (however they measure that) you’d be offered a place but no bursary, because you haven’t been successful in the bursary part of the application. There may only be one child in the cohort who meets the bursary criteria though, they won’t know until applications go in.

Second looking at Christs Hospital. Might be theperfect setup for you.

This is an unkind answer, and also entirely incorrect. A family making 45k/year would be very eligible for a busary at a senior school. Why would you be so discouraging?

I would be wary of putting a child in a school which will be big financial struggle for you, especially if that child has SEN. Bullying very much does happen in the private sector and not only will your child potentially stand out if they are socially a bit awkward but there will be a huge income discrepancy with the majority of their peers. Speaking as an autistic person who was one of the last people to go through private school on an assisted place, I wouldn't recommend the experience. Having said that, all schools are different. Not all private schools are academically selective, some are great for SEN and some just don't recognise the concept.

My ds went through private school on a bursary from Year 5 through to Yr 13
If its something you want schools to consider then you have to ring each individual school, talk to their bursar and ask very blunt questions on what bursary amount might be available and the timing for applying. Also always be very aware that the school can and do vary the amount of bursary awarded each year and can withdraw the bursary completely if they wish. Its best to look at bursaries as a funding 'pot' of money that a school will split between qualifying applicants in order to attract parents of a particular child to that school. Please also remember the huge additional cost to yourselves of any SEN provision, private schools will add anything additional to the bill and a bursary wouldn't cover those additions. You will also need to factor in fee increases.
I'm not saying don't try, but do go into it with your eyes wide open and do your research into each school of interest. The most important thing is to get an accurate representation from each school as to the % bursary they routinely offer, that information comes from the bursar. Websites will tell a story of bursaries awarded, then when you dig down they've only ever awarded a maximum of 40% in their whole history.

Independent mainstream schools can be named in an EHCP and thus have both the fees and the special educational provision funded. It is a myth to state otherwise. Whoever told you that is lying to you.

To get a wholly independent school named, parents need to prove the LA’s proposed school(s) can’t meet needs &/or that it isn’t unreasonable public expenditure. And many have to appeal, but it is possible.

Yes I’m surprised by this idea too- i know many people who have withdrawn their SEN children from private to send them mainstream -because state schools are more experienced with Sen, more up to date on their training and more focused on the whole self than many private schools.

I have a friend whose SEN DS was asked to leave 3 private schools and word obviously got around because no other local school would take him.
Thrived at the local harris academy in NW London. Knife crime wasn’t even a consideration there so god knows where you live that it’s such a terrible issue

@Twentythirdtry

Yes that’s how I understood it too, but many people here are saying bursaries will only go to children with exceptional talent and highly academically gifted so they’re basically scholarships?
It's more that there are many role wanting a bursary because they can't afford to attend without one. So who should the school pick?
They generally will give bursaries to very exceptional students who would otherwise not be able to afford a place. Not just quite good people who can't afford a place because there would be thousands of them.

Absolutely, but with his exceptional abilities in art I was wondering how much a school would value this and how much average academics and SEN would count against him in terms of bursary support.

Most schools don’t explicitly state that you have to be exceptional to be eligible for a bursary; just that the child would otherwise not be able to afford it, pass the entrance exams and really fit in and benefit from the education they offer - basically info on their websites vs this thread is very much contradictory - yes it does make sense that they reserve bursary funds to those who are exceptional in as many ways as possible and can’t otherwise afford it

… all the while I’m seeing posts with 160k income ask if their ‘bright’ SEN kids would be eligible for bursary (with vastly less hostile replies!)

I know several private schools who have offered full bursaries to children who are not academically exceptional. Don't know if the ruled and charity status of private schools is changing now though? Scholarships are different to bursaries.

What was this in reply to?

How recent was this?

Oh quite some time ago, but I swear that bursaries and scholarships are different. I think you might need to ask the school themselves, because how will you survive financially otherwise?

https://www.isc.co.uk/bursaries/what-are-scholarships-and-bursaries/

all the while I’m seeing posts with 160k income ask if their ‘bright’ SEN kids would be eligible for bursary (with vastly less hostile replies!)

Possibly those posters are just chancing their arm but can afford to pay the fees regardless. It sounds like you are not in a good financial position, have growing debt and can't afford your basic costs so your replies are just suggesting this is really not a good course of action for your household,

The thing is OP that your hopes for your DS are at odds with the private school business model. IME bursaries go to very bright DC who would otherwise not be able to afford to attend, DC who are very likely to get a raft of excellent results at GCSE and A level, thereby boosting the school's results. So from the school's POV those DC are a 'good investment'.

Your DS, who is only really good at art, isn't going to add much to their results, art being just one subject, and in terms of SEN support he may well cost them a fair bit. By all means apply and see what happens, but I wouldn't hold your breath, particularly when schools are full of DC who already have places, but some of whose parents are now being hit with 20% VAT that they can't afford and some of whom will be making requests for support to the school. I know this is the case at my DC's schools, because we've had letters about it.

no, of course not, not without substantial support, hence wondering if there’s any chance at all, especially as he does have something to offer.. whilst some 10/20% bursaries are given out just to keep it affordable for parents of averagely achieving kids/not scholarship level. It’s looking more and more like he’d either have to improve academically to stand out a bit more or be homeschooled, both have drawbacks backs but I think I have a more realistic view of things now..