secondary school scholarships

[abbaone]

my son is only in year 3 at the moment but we are looking ahead for his secondary education. he is in state primary at the moment and is doing well but nothing outstanding according to his teacher. however he is in the top group of his class
so he cant be doing that badly!!
overall he seems to do extremely well when he is in his badminton club, football club and cricket club( very good here!)
also excells at stagecoach so maybe just extra attention is the answer!??
local secondary school doesnt seem good enough as we have higher expectations. secondary private school is £15k a year and as we also have a daughter 2 years younger we cant afford full fees for both, if we could get scholarship for at least one we could manage and stress ourselves for his and her education. a scholarship would be vital for payment of fees. would this be achievable for someone with no extra coaching from a state school? we wil do anything for them? too much salary and income for bursary i think but again how much income max for bursary consideration? (confused)

Re Bursaries - every school is different. Is there no info on the school website? If not you can ask the school directly - believe me, they will be used to being asked such things!!

Scholarships - again depends on the school. Some schools offer scholarships for music, sports, drama etc as well as academic achievement.

In my area most children from state primaries are tutored for private secondary but then this area is very competitive.

thanks for that. no there is nothing on website but i will contact them and ask.
we earn £75,00K year and very little mortgage so i am sure this will mean we will have to pay?

At £75k and with a minimal mortgage then, yes, I would expect you not to get a bursary but again if you don't ask you don't get!!

You may be better off look at scholarships - it sounds like he is quite sporty so you should ask if they do sports scholarships. Also ask what grade they expect for music scholarships.

Scholarships tend to be becoming of less value now as emphasis moves more towards bursaries. Some schools may still give 30%+ but they are getting rarer - look at sports, music (min Grade4 and a 2nd instrument would be typical at local schools), all-rounder (ie if strong in art or drama as well as academic). Bursaries are rarely available beyond £50k. Also consider that fee smay well rise between now and then - allow 5-10% pa (there is a thread annually about increases you may wish to follow) You need to read up on what is on offer locally , some schools may have more discretionary funding available those meeting for specific criteria or as part of a Foundation but bear in mind this may yet change between now and when your ds is of an age to apply.

For an academic based scholarship I think you should budget for at least some tuition, mainly to familiarise him with the sort of papers and expectation as children from private schools will be prepared and used to sitting exams by then. tbh it is a lot of pressure to place on an 11 yr old so try not to let him see it is as he must get the shcolarship or have a second rate education.

With that salary a bursary would be very unlikely.

Scholarships vary from to school to school but tend to be very little value often 10% a few school offer 50% so worth asking around. Sometimes a small bursary can be negotiated on top. Surprisingly the top academic schools often are the most generous so worth trying.

I doubt that you will be able to get a bursary with your amount of income to be honest, the cut off mark for ds's secondary is 50K, scholarships are normally for 10% of the fees, sometimes a music scholarship will give free music lessons.

My DS1 came top in the entrance exam for his competitive entry independent senior school. He was already in the prep of the school at the time, though joined in yr 6 from a state school so had only been there for just over a term when he sat the exam with no additional preparation. He wasn't just one of the top set at primary school though - he was miles ahead of the other children academically. DS2 was a solid top set high achieving child, but didn't come anywhere near getting an academic scholarship.

The scholarship DS1 won is worth £900 per year - it does not make much of a dint in the fees, though it is very nice to have. If you couldn't afford to pay I doubt it would make the difference IYSWIM.

There are bursaries to DS1 school which are worth 25, 50 and 75% off the fees but they are based on scrutiny of parental income and are reserved for people on lower incomes than yours I would think.

DS1 came top in the exam for another local independent school and was offered a free place - we would just have had to pay for compulsory school dinners and public exam fees (which they billed separately). We didn't take up the place as it was not a competitive entry school and decided it was not right for him. This school was not a charity - I don't think a school could offer a free place which did not take account of parental income and hope to remain a charity.

People at work often make comments about how I can afford to pay school fees when they can't. I think the answer is in things like I am driving a 6 yr old car, DH is driving a 10 yr old car, we don't do expensive holidays etc whilst my work mates tend to have far superior holidays, cars, nights out etc. I would think on an income of 75K and no mortgage it would be doable if it is your top priority - we do have a bigger income but also a big mortage and three children rather than two to pay for.

My DS2 actually travels about 20 miles to a grammar school in another county for which he sat the 11+. Hardly anyone near us had ever heard of it when he sat the exam, even though it is not that far away. It might be worth researching to see if this option is available to you in a neighbouring LA?