Bursary. What to say in application.

[Pigeons]

DD has started Nursery in a very good independent school. We're using the free 15 hours for this school year. Next year, Reception, the fees kick in and we're going to need a bursary to be able to afford it.

I thought it was worth us making an application just in case, and was told by the Bursar to initally write to the Head with a bit of background info. She'll then send us more info and we'll need to provide a financial report.

But, what do you think I should write in the initial letter? I've written that our DD loves the school and that we're very impressed by it. I've mentioned that I'm a fundraising consultant (can't hurt I thought, in case they'd like some voluntary fundraising advice) but I really don't know what else to say at this stage.

Any tips and advice would be VERY gratefully received! Thanks. :)

If a school is a charity, then what it owns is owned by that charity. If it ceases to be a charity, then it's assets must be disposed of in accordance with the normal rules for winding up a charity. It's complex, but most assets would have to continue to be used for the stated charitable purpose, or sold off and the proceeds used to that purpose (didn't a school in Bristol go through this?). You can't just turn charitable items into private property. A lot would depend on who actually owns what - it is possible that land/buildings might be owned by someone else and used by the charity (ie the school). You can't generalise.

Which is all rather beside the point for the provision of bursaries in this individual school! Is the bursar friendly? Can you ask what the school likes to see in a case?

And it might be worth thinking now what your fallback plan would be if they granted you funds for your "transitional" year only. Are you sure enough of finding an income?

If you're set on the school, rather than moving, you could get a job or increase your hours now, and arrange childcare for the time your DD is not at the nursery (e.g. a childminder). It may mean working for little profit, or even at a loss, for a few months, but would set you up for the future. Employment might be better in the short-term, to get the vouchers etc.

Another consideration (assuming the school goes through to 11) is if in a few years you can't afford the fees and can't get a bursary, so needed to switch schools, it may be harder to find a place in the state sector than from the start. If the school finishes at 7 and you can't afford to stay private the problem would be similar.

Scaveola - yep, a process administered by the Charity Commission. Which, as you say, is entirely beside the point, but I thought it worth highlighting that bursaries are not a wheeze to get out of the inconvenience of paying school fees.

No objections in genuine cases of hardship - and neither have most other parents I know. But as the OP has been keen to stress, she's quite capable of earning enough to pay her way.

Thanks all for your advice.

Dozer we do want to move and the house went on the market three months ago, but nothing exciting happening there yet.

I'll not put DD into childcare now (other than Nursery at the school) as we'd both (DH and I) rather she be cared for by me than a CM. Not starting a debate, just choice. Next Sep she'll be in school full-time so I'll work properly then. I'm seeking to increase the workload I have in the evenings though, so hopefully I'll be able to put a bit aside to help with the fees.

Crystal, I'm not keen to stress that I'm capable of earning enough. As I said in the OP, we can't afford it at the moment, which I why we're applying for a bursary (for next Sep). I anticipate that my earnings will increase when I go back to work, but it will be a struggle initially. Hence the application for a bursary.

Fair enoughm, you've chosen to stay at home until your dd goes to school, but surely the money thing is part of the consequences of that choice? Seems like you'd like other people to subsidise your choices.

I sort of agree with dozer and from a personal POV, my DD is doing more than the 15 hours at her independent school nursery so that I can work in order to make sure fees will be covered into the future.

You wouldn't need to use a separate CM or nursery if your DD can do more hours at school now in order to enable you to up hours this year and get yourself established.

You also need to bear in mind that independent school tend to have longer school holidays than state schools so you would have additional child care costs.
Am not sure whether you would qualify if you have chosen to be a SAHM. Do know of people who have qualified on the basis on only having one income but this has been for the following reasons: one parent made redundant, single parent family, one parent disabled (or with serious illness) so unable to work or one parent unable to work due to caring responsibilities e.g. caring for disabled child, elderly dependent relative.
By all means obtain the application forms for a bursary but they want to know EVERYTHING about your financial status - income, mortgage payments, other loans, all assets (including the value of your house, car and pension policies as well as any other savings you have). Also do a check on the schools finances as well to make sure they are solvent.
The fund-raising experience is not really relevant - most state school PTAs would find this useful too.

I think the other thing to consider is how many children you have or are likely to have. If it is going to be a struggle now could it be worse if there is also a second child to consider?
If the family is complete and dd will be the only one then no problem, but it would be unfair imo to do this for one child and not for the other.

As something of an expert on bursaries i can tell you will be expected to work even if it's only part time unless you have a very good reason not too e.g. Looking after elderly relative etc my advise fill in form and just say your very happy with school as is your dd nothing more complicated than this as the school already knows her. Bursaries are generally reviewed annually and you will have to pay more if your income increases; can you afford this you may be endlessly chasing your tail but you may like many others think its worth it to get the education you want. The other problem is if your school is only a prep school is getting a bursary at the next school many are now only attached to scholarships at the moment although this may change as we come out the recession.
With regard to other parents contributing towards the bursary fund in my experience if you can afford £29000 a year another couple of thousand is not going to break you but makes a big difference to the bursary fund.

pigeons, hope you don't mind me asking a question in here. I've been reading with interest as I've been considering applying for bursary just to help us out so we're not down to bread and butter every day if we do end up going down the independent route.

why does it make such a big difference to the bursary fund, say, if I apply for bursary and get say £1000 per year from it? Will probably not consider applying now as it sounds like the effect is very negative to the bursary fund if I applied and got a small percentage of my fees in bursary. Hope I've not missed something within the post that explains it.

I'm not sure if it's my comment your referring too but I wasn't talking about parents on bursaries but those who are not. A comment was made earlier about those paying full fees providing funds for the bursary pot. A couple of boarding schools of which I believe Eton is one have increased there annual fees by a couple of thousand to raise money for bursaries and the point I was making is that if your income means that you can afford £29000 a year then another couple of thousand is unlikely to make that much difference to you. Iin a big school like Eton with about 1200 boys thats quite a significant sum to add to their bursary pot every year.

We had all the questions crazymum53 mentions and tons more - you have to account for every penny you receive from every conceivable source. They will also ask you why you can't release any equity from your house so you'll need to have solid answers to everything. Be prepared to lay your life open on a plate for them to examine. Its the only way to be fair

Hi
My Ds is on a bursary and has been since reception. This is due to redundancy. I think having been to the nursery (in his case full time as I worked then) counts. I do not think he would have got it if he was new to the school. They do ask about everything and are very thorough and ask for evidence of everything. They ask the head teacher as well about the child. It is still very tough financially, school fees go up throughout the school as well as yearly inflation, I get nightmares about it. I do think it is worth you trying though.I do think if the child has something to offer the school helps.