Low income and zero bursary award

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Got offers for senior schools but have received zero bursary awards despite being on very low income, living in housing association home and not being able to accept a place without a bursary. I know VAT has a big impact but to be awarded zero help just seems very strange as I would have thought there would be some consideration at least...

Any advice as my child is really distraught at working so hard and passing the assessments but the zero bursary awards look like we will need to reject these places...

Oh it will make a big difference when currently 20-25% of kids in Indy schools are on fee assistance. When that dries up you are left with only the wealthy which just drives the gap even wider

It was 75, 000+ over the lifetime of the policy. Around 6k per year of entry, but funded for their secondary education. Lots of my friends at school were on assisted places. Around half of our year group. Year after year after year.

Keir Starmer I think is one who benefited. He stayed on at RGS after it went private and his place was funded. He was there same time as Peter Lampl of Sutton Trust.
i know another person whose started as fee paying, early 90s then when his parents could no longer afford it, they got one of these grants. He hated the place he went to and isn’t in touch with any of his school friends but that education got him into a high paying professional career.
i think it’s a shame that there’s such a 2 or 3 tier system (if include grammars/ faith schools/ wealthy catchments) here. But even the best schools in Europe require an element of selection enabled due to parent’s wealth or education usually both. E.g the Swiss system and French ones

@twistyizzy "Oh it will make a big difference when currently 20-25% of kids in Indy schools are on fee assistance"
What's the average amount of assistance those kids get?

Between 5-100%. No way of knowing exactly because data isn't collected on individual amounts, just the total % per year

DC’s school have vastly reduced bursaries, and what is left is mostly going to current families who are struggling. Almost the full 20% was passed on at DC’s school, so they knew they had to appear to be tightening their budgets to stop parents leaving for other schools where a lot less was passed on.

The 20% VAT rule will make private education more elite.

@Justtoaddtoo dont worry that imbecile phillipson is coming for grammar and academy schools after her private school raid. Further more don’t worry her children as Starmer are as Cooper/Ball children are at outstanding comps in the catchment of their £2 million homes. Talk about pull the ladder up and yes this 20% will raise no money will cost the taxpayer money and will make private education more elite.

They could. But now they have to pay more money to a business (the school) so the charities won't get that money, will they?

So could have spent £20k on fees and donated £2k to local hospice. Now hospice gets nothing and the government get it. Which is the promptly claimed back by the schools wherever possible. And that money most definitely won't be seen in state school down the road. The amount raised is minimal and the school budgets won't increase at all, and if they do, not in any significant way.

Oh, and some schools will close, schools that were providing specialist SEND provision. Which means job losses and more SEND kids in Uber funded schools... hooray...

@100PercentFaithful yes that’s a great idea you can no longer afford the 20% uplift why not give to charity, most people want to do the best for their children and some see private education that with this punitive tax I doubt they will be feeling overly generous

Is your DC aware that their attendance was dependent of a ? Full bursary? I assume there are no private schools you can afford?
it looks like you need to do a U turn and reinforce to your DC that state schools are perfectly good and you will be able to accommodate and support after school activities. At that age children are very much influenced by what their parents say and do.

Yes of course schools receive many applications so have never been able to offer every applicant a bursery. However the fact is schools who have had their charitable status removed are reducing the number of bursaries available. That is the outcome of Labours economic decision making; removal of charitable status, VAT, increase to employers NI all have a negative outcome for bursaries.

It sounds as though you cannot afford to send your DC to private school. Even with a bursary you would find there were a lot of extras you had to pay for. I think you may have been a bit naiive.....I am sure your hard working DC will do fine in a state school.

@100PercentFaithful you could say private school parents do give to charity because they pay twice. They are paying for a state school place that their child doesn't take. Additionally many, like us, now feel we have to pay for private health care due to the state of the NHS. Again paying for something that's not fit for purpose. It feels like giving to the state is giving to charity.

The biggest gap for disadvantaged children is within the state system. It's the middle classes buying the expensive property in areas of outstanding schools and then donating to these schools that you want to look at. Level it up within the state system. At least private school parents do t hide what they're doing!

Frankly I think private schools should charge for the use of their facilities anyway given the VAT decision.

If you're on that low an income how could you afford it with a small discount?

@Between 5-100%. No way of knowing exactly because data isn't collected on individual amounts, just the total % per year"

Indeed. But they are mostly at the lower end. They do little to make a difference to the private school cohort in terms of social mobility.

You have no basis to claim they are "mostly at the lower end" because like I said, no data is collected. It can't be argued either way

Why does attending private school = social mobility?

Nonsense. Schools have never given bursaries to everyone. If you think it's wrong that an able child from a low income home can't access these schools then really you should, like me, be against private education because it gives an unfair advantage to the rich.

And if you take exception to 'rich' then - to the better off.

I don't really agree with bursaries. If you can't afford private your children need to go to state schools. So If they aren't charities where is the bursary money coming from. Subsidised by other struggling parents?

Some have endowment, others yes use any surplus from fees to go into bursaries. The whole idea is to enable children from less well off families to be able to access the school.

@twistyizzy "
You have no basis to claim they are "mostly at the lower end" because like I said, no data is collected. It can't be argued either way"

Well, according to The Good School
Guide, in 2020 only 1.2% of children at private school got 100% bursaries....

Unless they have asked each school then they can't know. Even ISC which has most access to the data, can't say. They only give the overall amount given in fee assistance each year which is around £430 million.

@twistyizzy And, according to Talk Education, bursaries are typically between 10 and 50%.

I have been involved with education in a selective county for 25 years-and I am only aware of 2 100% bursaries being awarded. I know several at around the 25% mark. The most common awards I have seen are small scholarships-usually around 10% for excellence in various academic and extra curricular areas. None of these awards are doing anything to increase social mobility. They have all gone to what used to be described as "distressed gentlefolk" Anecdotal, I know, but

The entitlement of “I want my child to go to an expensive private school but somebody else can pay for it” is off the charts here!