Bursary

[Mayana1]

I would like to find out more about bursaries.
We are on the low income, but would really like to send my child to independent school as state schools in my area are all on low ratings. The problem is, he is only starting, means he will be going to reception class or Year 1 and most bursaries starts from 11+ or similar. The school I considered starts at that age too, so can not apply with them. Does anyone know if there are some charities, I know there are plenty who helps with education fees, but didn't find any so far, that would start from that age? Much appreciated any advise.

Thank you. I am just looking for options. There are thousands who get it every year, so I would like to find out what are the possibilities. I don't know why I am 'entitled' because I am asking the question.

Thank you.

I didn't even mention Ofsted.

Do you know that children with certain circumstances from charities get bursaries for private education? So it is a need for them, right?

There are thousands who get it every year

I don’t think there are reception age children getting private school places fully funded by charity in the thousands every year - and if you know that there are, then you probably know more about suitable charities than anyone replying to you.

So it is a need for them, right?

Lots of charities fund things that aren’t needs but are positives - scouting, guiding, PTAs etc

Thank you, yes I did come to that information by myself, but because bursaries used to be an option for younger children too, I wanted to ask a question, to know I am not missing something. I am basically just gathering information.

Thank you.

It would be a very unusual charity that would pay to send a child to a school their family can't afford right from their first year - as they are unlikely to afford I any year.

The charity would either end up paying tens of thousands of pounds each year for 14 years or have to watch the children they have funded previously being pulled out as their family can't afford it.

I believe if your child has an EHCP you can sometimes ask the local authority to pay fees for you if you can successfully argue that this is the only school that meets their needs.

I agree that encouraging talent in sport/music etc could give your child a chance of getting a bursary when they are older - but by then they might be happily settled in school anyway.

I also work in this area and am aware that there are very, very few bursaries or scholarships for the prep/junior school years. There are limited funds for 11+ but the child needs to be highly academic/sporty/musical etc to get any financial assistance.

There aren’t enough donations to fund all of the bursaries and scholarships, which means existing parents are effectively funding the shortfall through their fees which is what I think a previous poster was referring to.

Personally, I think your best option would be to get a full time job at the school of your choice so that you can access the 50% staff discount.

Bursaries have never really been an option for prep schools. None of the private schools near me (and there are many) have ever offered them.

I just know about those for really tough circumstances... Which my child is not in and would never get it. For the rest, probably it happened in the past. I am basically just asking a question, that's all.

I am happy to be proved wrong, but as I said I have worked in this field for a while and there aren't really any charities that pay school fees. One of the links up thread is to the Royal National Children's Springboard Foundation, which works closely with a number of schools to help them allocate their bursary funds and to help them find exceptional pupils from very low income families who might benefit from going to said schools. It's not really a case of applying to the charity and they pay your school fees.

If you believe you have a truly exceptional child - either academic or sporting/music - then you can research the (very few) schools who may offer some bursary assistance at 7+/8+. I don't think there are many (any?) in the country who offer some assistance at 4+. The ones that may offer some financial aid at 7+ will likely be prep boarding schools and, as said upthread, post Covid and now with the teachers' pensions/VAT changes the funds are predominantly being ploughed into helping existing pupils stay at the school.

Your financial situation will be reassessed from scratch every year, and of course everything resets upon going into senior school (again bursaries at senior level are much more common at boarding schools but then the amount you have to pay - eg 50% - is much higher than a day school).

Can you home school until your child turns 11 @Mayana1 ?

That might be a better option if you can't afford fees.

To be honest, that was actually my idea for last 2 years... But I did not really plan till 11, just till around 7 or so. But then the environment, they are all telling you you should put your child to school, he needs to socialise... Well he was more places than many, out every day, unless in a very bad weather, learning so much, recognising things... Not because he is my son, but he really learns things quickly and I would like to keep him at home. But for that you need again support from someone as it is hard on your own and how do you work? I wanted that for us to be flexible as we are going to my home country often and it is so beneficial for him being with his grandparents. I put that idea behind, but now mentioning it, it came on my mind again. I might really contact local group of homeschooling moms I got contact of. Thank you!

Do you work and/or go on holidays often OP (as you mention homeschooling and also visiting family in your home country).

I only ask as often with bursaries they absolutely pour over your financial situation, they will expect you to be doing everything possible to be able to contribute financially to your child’s education. If you do not work or take frequent jobs abroad that may limit what you are offered, in the unlikely case you can find a bursary for such a young child.

There's a website called Turn2us which also covers charities who fund education, BUT they often have very very narrow criteria (ie parent works in a particular trade or industry) and most often for older children (secondary or 6th form)
My son went to prep school from Year 5 fully funded on a 100% bursary. You have to ring each school and ask, the percentage is rarely published accurately on websites and it depends on how many bursaries are given out to how the pot is divided. This was before VAT I hasten to add and we didn't meet anyone on a bursary from reception age (including long standing families at particular schools whose parent died) there are finite funds and unfortunately it really does depend on who is applying at the same time.

Yes absolutely, they'll expect both parents to be working unless there's a very good reason (like a disabled child to care for) why one can't.

No school offers bursaries for children that young because it's totally unnecessary for the children and the opposite of beneficial for the school.

In the first few years of primary when kids are basically learning how to learn, how to behave, how to read, write and do basic arithmetic - outcomes don't particularly follow school type or rating. Kids with parents who engage with education, talk with their kids about school, get involved with school activities and read with their children every day, thrive and do well even at the worst "requires improvement" rated school. Kids whose parents don't do these things do less well, even at the most expensive private school. Private school selection at 4+ or 7+ is mostly just screening out any kids with particularly difficult behavioural problems, and some schools are quite unashamedly performing social screening to ensure only the "right" sort of children get in so having any kind of bursary system would be offputting to some of their customers. There's no benefit to the school in finding bright-but-poor children to grant charitable place to at infant/junior level because there are no public exams at the end of those education stages whereby they might be a performance boost. There's also no really reliable means of identifying whether a child is in the top 10% of bright kids at age 4-6. It's possible to identify who the lowest 10%/20% are but the pool of kids who are bright enough to benefit is far too large with no sensible way to pick who the lucky recipients should be. Some 4 year olds start reception "very advanced" as they have been taught at home, but by year 5 they are totally average as everyone else caught up.

It's completely different at senior school and that's why the bursaries and scholarships happen there. It's very much easier to identify a bright and talented child, and the school can use recruitment of the bright and talented poorer children to boost their overall results if they have an over-representation of the "lovely chap but a bit dim" children of the very wealthy who didn't get their wealth through sharpness of mind.

Bursaries at senior school level help boost the school's GCSE results (or sometimes sporting league table positions etc) by recruiting talented youngsters who will do well. Some scholarships go to reasonably well-off families who could probably afford full fees, when a 2nd-rate private school wants to poach the brightest candidates from a nearby 1st rate private school, and are tempted away with a 20% bursary and the idea that "... school B is so much more kind and nurturing, and of course Lucy is so bright she'll do brilliantly anywhere."

You will not persuade a school to educate a very young child at anything less than full price. Charities are not going to step in to give a privileged education to one child if the same money could give a smaller boost to a hundred children. Nurture your child's talents as much as you can and apply for the bursaries that do exist at 11+ level.

@Mayana1 as PP said, you (and partner) will need to be maximising your income to possibly attract a bursary in future. Can you send DC to infant school at least and seek
to go back to work, then have another look at 7+ and 11+ for possibilities.

existing parents are effectively funding the shortfall through their fees which is what I think a previous poster was referring to.

This is exactly why bursaries and scholarships (now only 20%) are vastly reduced at DC’s school. To put it bluntly, after 18.5% of the 20% VAT was passed on to parents, there’s absolutely no appetite from paying parents to be funding other children to attend. They are pretty much now limited to exceptional children at 7+ and 11+, and families of existing students who are struggling to keep up with fee rises.

Why can’t his father pay for his education?
you won’t get a bursery if you are a SAHM unless you have a very good reason for not being employed eg disability/carer.

Indeed. DS1 is about to leave his private secondary school and parents are tapped up to donate to a “Class of…” bursary. No year of parents thus far has gifted enough for a full bursary. We are looking to university costs and increased mortgage rates and so on. Plus other charitable giving.

Absolutely, working at school would be great, but very unlikely for me to be accepted. Not from education background.

What's your job at the moment?