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...

Nonsense. Burseries are even more selective. An unfair advantage to a tiny proportion of less well off children whose parents are in the know.

Yet some schools like Christ's Hosiptal have the majority on fee assistance, many at 100%.
The point you are missing is that independent schools are independent so no 1 standard way of awarding fee assistance. That's why it is hard to gather data. You can't extrapolate what happens in a few local schools across the whole country.

Good point- I agree. So I would say as a parent they then need to manage that and teach the child to cope with that disappointment as it’s part of life.

I don’t agree with being entitled - it’s an awful pushy attitude to role model

Well yes. The whole system is skewed to those with money and/or cultural capital/awareness. Totally unfair. Should all go.

Lots of kids are smart and could pass the assessments. It doesn't automatically guarantee a place, let alone a paid for place -only a tiny percentage will get that. I think realistically if you can't afford private school then going in for the exam expecting a largely paid for place was unrealistic. If your in kid is smart then s/he will do well irrespective.

Yep true

Parents have also income tax that in turn funds LA school places….but this doesn’t get refunded. Parents are being taxed. But it is choice you make and have to be prepared to pay.

The head buddying thing would have massively helped indies in my experience. The worst managers I ever met in a long career were in the indie I worked towards the end.

I pay for restaurant food with my taxed income. And cars. And clothes. Should I get the VAT back?

At my DC's school there were no bursaries but scholarships of 25 or 50%. The 50% was only available for Prep kids who had been there from Y5 as a minimum. It was based on academics or sport with no income requirement.
We applied for DD to join in Y7 with a 25% scholarship but we were told only to apply if it was affordable without that. They didn't check but The Admissions lady was quite explicit that they didn't think it was fair to put a child through the process for them not to be able to come based on finances. Based purely on the DC in DDs year who had scholarships I think all of them would have gone anyway, the discount was a bonus

@twistyizzy ". You can't extrapolate what happens in a few local schools across the whole country"

No. Which is why I said that my own experience was merely anecdotal and quoted other sources as well.

It would have massively helped both indie and state in my opinion, they both have a lot they could learn from each other.

Having taught in both, I disagree. Management is a bit ropey in both but generally better in state. Teaching in indie is immeasurably easier - there’s not a lot an indie teacher could contribute to the skill set of a successful state school teacher.

Income tax is used to pay for public goods and service: healthcare, education roads etc. Parents have paid that tax to the government and they don’t get a refund for the school places not used in the state provision- a public service funded via taxpayers.

Parents are now paying for a private service that is being taxed via VAT. In the absence of any refund for the state school place not taken up. Part of a state schools funding is based on the number pupils attending, each pupil has a value attached.

I am a governor at a State school with DC at Private and what strikes me most is the amount of nonsense State school teachers have to deal with before they can even think about teaching.

The only bit of that that matters is “parents are paying for a private service”. Quite so.

I wouldn’t disagree. It’s one of the reasons I retired early.

A distant ex teacher here. I only taught in state including deprived areas and an affluent area. I’d agree it’s not the skills set it’s the structure within which you operate makes the difference. I flourished in the deprived area much more than the leafy suburb area which has its own particular issues with SLT and catchment area.

So I’m not sure the buddying would work as they trying to educate with very different resources. Culture and ethos are really hard to change in any organisation.

I think a lot of private schools are at risk of closure. So I imagine bursaries are last of their concerns.

Just send DC to state school. Why would you take them to do assessments if you don't have the funds available?

There are lots of state schools that are doing well & students make great progress.

If you.have a bright child they should thrive in state school. My son has a lovely group of friends in his top set. All bright and ambitious and interesting children. They all work hard at school and the top set atmosphere is good.

Admittedly his cousin in the same year but a lower set has quite a different experience.

Among friends it is only the ones with children who are academically struggling who have opted for private. Those with bright children with no SEN are using the local state schools and using the money saved for holidays/savings for house deposits etc.

If you couldn't afford to send and were 100% relying on a very large bursary then in my opinion you shouldn't have sat the tests- there are very bright kids at state schools too OP with lots to offer -

Your DC being upset because you pushed them into testing to enter an expensive school that you can't afford is entirely on you op.

Why should someone else fund your dc?

Did you ever ask the school for stats on how many 100% (or even 110%) bursaries they give and how many families apply needing that sort of support. Some schools might only have one child in the entire school on that level of support, some might have one per year, some schools never really give more than 20 - 30% support.
Then, as others have said, schools are dealing with existing families needing additional support whether they have, until now, been able to pay fees in full or are already on some sort of bursary. Families on a 50% bursary aren't going to be able to magic up another 20% and, if their child is mid-way through GCSEs for example, you are more likely to top up their bursary than than give money to a new family as otherwise the school will lose that GCSE pupil and the 50% fees they were paying and need to fill a Yr10 or Yr11 place which is almost impossible. Much better to continue to support that child and take in one a Yr7 whose parents can pay full fees even if that child didn't score as well.
Then there are the additional issues that schools are facing of fewer donations and increased coats (NICS etc) so, unless they have a completely ring fenced post for bursaries, they might be needing to use the money elsewhere.
As a PP has asked, would it really have made a difference if you had been offered a 5%, 20% or even a 75% bursary? Wouldn't you have then been posting criticising the school for that approach? Surely the problem is that the chances of your DD actually going to this school was vanishingly low?
This issue has existed for decades. I'm late 40s and remember friends applying for the local private school and not being able to go as the school didn't offer financial support for them. My parents decided not to enter me for the exam as they figured out it was a waste of time. What has changed in intervening years is that, rather than just turning up and doing a 2hr exam in a Sports Hall one Saturday having attended an open morning, your DD has probably done a full assessment day enjoying some of the private school's facilities and also having the school sold to her as the school will know that many of the children there will be applying to at least a couple of others and they need plenty of children to chose this school.
What you have done, though, is show your DD that she is as good as the children going to this school. She can still get good grades although it may take more determination on her part. She can still do plenty of co-curricular, it may just take more co-ordination on both of your parts.

How many schools in each sector have you taught in?

Why does that matter?
Two. And I know lots of other teachers who have taught in lots of others.
It’s easier to teach a small class of (often, though not in either of the schools I worked in) selected pupils with supportive parents than in a state school. I’ve taught in 5 state schools as a full time permanent member of staff and lots of others on supply after I took early retirement.

It matters when you make sweeping generalisations. You can't take your experience in 2 schools and extrapolate across every school on each sector.