private schools near me have reduced their bursary offers??

[Mizmumy]

Hi, very long time lurker- made a post to ask......as not sure I can see anything related to this.

My twins are in year 6. They are both really sporty and doing well academically. They are at the local primary and we applied for the local school. No issue with the school, but we thought to try our luck with a bursary for them both. We live in Surrey, and there are actually more private schools near us than state.

We have applied for the kids to a few different schools but have been refused for nearly all the applications. The bursars have all told us the schools have significantly reduced their bursary student offers for next year. I have friends who work in 2 of these schools and they shared that no bursaries were offered. We were not expecting 100% bursaries, looking at maybe a 10-20% reduction in fees.

Has anyone else come across this? Thanks for your answers if you have any?

Where we are there are substantial intakes at Y7 and Y9 in every private school, as the pupils come from a mixture of state and private 4-11 primaries, and private preps which go up to 13.

Plus there is also a fair bit of movement between schools at Y9 even from pupils who started in Y7, because they often move to different schools for specific Y9 entry scholarships, schools which offer slightly different options for GCSE, more of a STEM/arts focus etc. Entry scholarships are usually for years 7-8, and then pupils compete for another round of them (which may be in slight different subjects) at Y9. So a child may go to one school on a music scholarship for Y7-8, then switch to another to take up Y9 scholarships in drama and academic performance, and so on.

I realise my first sentence was incorrect. I meant to say there are schools that only take in y9.

Most schools DS due y7 of y9. They are prep until y6 or y8. The most well known schools are y9 for boys. Most girls schools are y7. If a school is half empty waiting for y9 to arrive it’s losing fees. I know a few girls schools with a few places held open until y9 because they recruit from preps that go to y8. Eg WA and CLC. Most want to start with their full admission number if they can. Successful schools do manage to do this. No school I’ve known sees much change in y9. Why would you leave WA in y9 for example?

There are plenty of schools in London with Year 9 intakes and you sit and get your place in Year 6, but are given the place for Year 9. These are schools costing upwards of 25k in fees now plus VAT 5-6k so if you go or stay state for Years 7&8 you save enough money to more than compensate for years of VAT. Years 9-11 was always the best time to go private anyway. So if people are doing that, and more and more will do that, maybe the private schools will simply adjust their intakes. There is nothing stopping them from having small year 7&8s and doubling intake at Year 9, for example, nor do they need to go through long consultations on PAN changes.

I think this is just another part of the adjustment people are making. I described it already elsewhere changing from boarding to day instead, picking a less prestigious school due to fees being lower, now I discovered this one yesterday deferring private schools entry point. It will be the same for those who may have gone private at 4, are now deferring to 7 or 11 etc. People are simply calculating cost of VAT overall and making the state pay for that in other ways. All entirely predictable.

Anyway my point was for the OP. Save for two years and do a spreadsheet and look into Year 9 entry as an option instead. See if you can make the numbers work.
My DC wanted to go to a specialist music school later on but we have also been priced out. We have found summer schools in European countries instead and are spending on top instrumental teachers instead. We are in that position where the specialist music schools in UK charge us full whack and VAT due to this Government policy. If DC continues to want to do music, we will just go to another country. It is what it is.

Two of our local private schools - I have personal experience of both - are through schools which both add another whole class for Y9 entry. What you say makes perfect sense @Araminta1003 . For these two schools, students can’t apply in Y6 for Y9 entry, but I assume interested families would remain at state schools for two more years and apply for private in Y8 to start in Y9. I guess it’s a case of adapting for the times we’re currently in.

And those whose diamond shoes are too tight

@cait967 bursaries are also for students from families on very low incomes

Or they were, Labour may have stalled some of that. A shame for those who would have received them.

Well if house prices start falling in Surrey due to issues around education and the interplay of state and private schools and Governmental interference in that regard, and the political repercussions of that, then I wonder whose tiny violins and diamond shoes will be off the most.

Similarly, we were going to send DD boarding and have chosen a day school instead. Overall less expensive, the day fees + vat are less expensive than the boarding even before vat.

People who need to count the £ will
of course change what they do. Others won’t need to. The margins will always trade down if finances dictate. It’s certainly not true that all schools from y7-13 have big intakes at y9. Many just fill up in y7 and want the money.