Have any of you applied for a bursary for private ed?

[CapInHand]

There is a lovely school near by(ish) that I would love for dd to go to. We are massively too skint to ever consider it, but I've seen that they have bursaries for people under a certain wage. And full bursaries for people under 30,000 which is exactly what we will be on after dh's raise next month

Typical.

Anyway, any tips or tricks please? If you did get your children in, was it good, did it help? Did they feel like the poor relation?

Also dd is only 3.5 so looking in to it for reception, is that going to help me? Get in early...

Do they offer bursaries for reception though? Lots of schools only offer bursaries from 7+ (i.e. from Year 3).

Never heard of reception bursaries!

My eldest nephew got a bursary for entry into Y3 some time ago. Last year his younger brother was offered a bursary for Y1, so it does happen. OP, you can but ask! There's nothing to lose, and the bursar might say 'yes'. I've not heard that they feel like poor relations - both seem to love it, and their parents are delighted with their progress.

ring the school. speak to the bursar about applications for bursaries and how to make them (some have strict deadlines etc) what age they go from and most importantly how much they typically give (the advertising isn't always accurate!)
Do remember as well that bursaries don't cover extras - uniform, sometimes lunches, any clubs as he gets older and that fees do rise but the bursary doesn't always rise with them.
Don't let any of the above put you off,always ask but do work it out carefully x

It would be unusual to get one so early tbh and many schools will have closed lists for that year of entry already . Early Years Funding may apply during Reception until she is 5. You do realise that every year any amount allocated gets reviewed and you might be expected to make the most of any assets and return to work ?

I haven't asked any questions yet as tbh I don't really know where to start. It says on their website that bursaries are awarded from junior school. They have nursery age until 18 students, so I assumed reception was included. I thought I would just apply and see where I got from there. I'm not British and this is my eldest child so I'm totally lost with the whole system. I still can't get my head around being told where to go to school and instead hoping that the local primaries will take dd

inthename The uniforms.. I couldn't believe how expensive. Are the spun from unicorn hair?!?

You do realise that every year any amount allocated gets reviewed and you might be expected to make the most of any assets and return to work ? I have two younger children so returning to work won't make financial sense for a while off and um assets. Not really an issue!

Thank you for all your answers.

I still can't get my head around not being told where to go to school and instead hoping that the local primaries will take dd

I applied for a school last year that advertised 100% bursaries for yr7 onwards, for dd1

I was a single parent with a 2children, earning 21,000

I was awarded a 40% bursary which I queried and it was because I had 40k equity and owned a car worth about 4k

Apparently I should have remortgaged to pay school fees

Needless to say she didn't go to that school

Junior often means 7+ , how do they describe themselves on their website. Given that you have 2 other dc would you want do same for them ? If one is tight 3 would be very difficult to sustain, have you looked at how fees increase as they progress up the school . Often state school allocations turn out fine , you tend to hear about the exceptions. In the end you are told where to send your dc, but it may not be one of those you list or your nearest.

Thanks 18,

No house and our car is worth about a grand. So that's lucky I guess

if they say bursaries from junior school that means Yr 3, so would involve funding all costs for the first 3 years.

Wouldn't expect the other two to go so that's not an issue. Would definitely never afford "extras" for three.

It describes junior as 4-11 (luckily because I hadn't checked that, just assumed)

There is one good school near us and several rubbish ones. I'm worried about being allocated a crap one.

My children attend private school and I know at our school the bursary offered will usually only be a portion of the fees per term from year 3 onwards. Any shortfall is covered by the parents as are any after school clubs, school lunches at £300 per term and swimming lessons. There are also quite a few expensive school residential trips which are not covered. I know that very few full bursaries are awarded and these are only to "exceptionally gifted" children or children who's parents financial circumstances have changed since joining the school. The uniform is also extortionate although we do have a thriving second hand uniform shop or we sell to each other at a knockdown price!! No one goes to the new uniform shop unless there is nothing in the right size in the second hand shop!

but your younger 2 could equally get a "crap" one in that case . Have you visited any of them ? Don't rely on hearsay or local snobbery.

IloveAdrianMole Thank you it does sound very expensive. :(

No, they wouldn't be going.

Not hearsay or snobbery, ofsted.

How can you send one and not the other two??? I have one at private, and simply could not imagine not sending my second child next year.

I think it is important to know that at the vast majority of private day schools from reception onwards you need to budget for around £2000 per year in extras that are not covered by school fees.
So far this term
£40 for theatre trip
£35 for trip to sing in choir at O2
£500 for multi activity trip which will be in summer term
From school diary there is trip to Panto it will be £20
£7 for school diary
So this term we are already at £582 without music lessons.
Yes you can say no to these trips, but your child is likely to be the only one not going.
The vast majority of children play an instrument £210 per term.
So the fees are really only the start.

If you rent you can move into a catchment of a school to improve chances.

And don't rely only on OFSTED reports to determine suitability of your local state options. You need to visit the schools (open days probably around now) and ask questions. Also, you said your younger children wouldn't go to that school but where are you going to send them which will be suitable? Aren't they going to be massively resentful of the better opportunities offered to your eldest?

On extras that is not our experience. In fact I would say more children than not don't go on things like the ski trips in our private schools.

I would say though no bursary should ever be offered unless the mother is working fulltime. I don't see why fulltime working mothers should be busting a gut working full time and balancing childcare when women at home don't earn a penny and then claim poverty and are in effect subsidised by working mothers who after childcare probably have no more money net than the they do. Surely it is possible to juggle work or work at weekends or find a childminder who costs less than the full time wage the mother would earn.

My DC's have been on a substantial bursary since yr 3 (boarding schools) over 10 years. Just to shatter some myths that are frequently stated on here, we're on a good income (we don't claim CB), we have equity in house (not a lot) but 10% of our assets are added onto our income when calculating how large our bursary will be and reasonable cars, we are not living on economy beans on toast, nor are we clad in Primark, we have one cheapish holiday a year. But we don't have the off spare £35k a year to spend on school fees.
Over the years I've noticed the initial enthusiasm that many schools seemed to show for bursaries is waining significantly. Most schools want something for their money, academic prowess is the obvious one but sport/art/drama success can often be enough. Basically your more likely to get a scholarship (which often don't have any financial reward) and the a bursary. Relatively few schools offer large stand alone bursaries.
Secondly big name schools often have larger bursary pots than small unknown ones. I've got boys so know little about girls schools but look at the websites of St Pauls School, Eton and Winchester to get a feel for what some (a very small minority) are offering, they have large bursary pots and are trying to widen access. DS's school is trying to be needs blind in a few years. Having said this the majority of independent schools simply can't afford to be generous.

Our extras are about £500 per term more in the IGCSE term.
My DS says he's the only one he know who doesn't go skiing (I wouldn't go even if I had the money I can't think of anything worse), our bursary has always risen yr on yr in line with annual fees increase. Green is sort of right about mothers working although I've only worked full time in last year, (4/5 th part time) but if you have children who aren't school age you won't necessarily be expected to work or if you are caring for an elderly relative (increasingly common and I thought this would happen to me last year but very sadly it never arose).