Would private schools expect us to remortgage before offering a bursary?

[Tootandcomeinagain]

Hi - seen a lot here about bursaries and wondered if anyone has remortgaged for school fees - we live in a 700K home (all paid off) in London. Salaries 90K gross. Potential school fees are 12K a term so 72K a year for 2. Would we qualify for a part bursary or would we be expected to remortgage? Do they look at the home first? Id be interested in any bursar views as there have been a few posting?

If they cut off the most costing marketing dept .

Well done
you learnt a lot today
including google and screen shot and upload and opps you miss out a lot

Greed is sin:

When unrealistic desire outruns budget, the gap creates frustration.

obviously you can see here 10 pages of …… unhappy people .

Cognitive overload happens when incoming data exceeds your brain limited capacity. The more u know . The unhappier u r .

so in summary : don’t calculate . Don’t think . Stay where u r !

Miss out on what? I’m not sure what your point is?

I’m having real trouble understanding any of your posts, I can only assume English is a second language for you?

I am not sure I am your target audience anyway - as previously stated my DC’s private school has a high percentage of SEN and I am happy to contribute towards a bursary place for such a child as I know how horrendous it is for neurodiverse children in the state sector and I can afford it.

I don't think she's quite well. I thought she was just kind of horrible initially but this is genuinely not normal.

She is on a lot of threads in this topic - ai think the phrase "chip on the shoulder" is appropriate!

I have seen some previous threads, weeks ago, where she appeared to be a bit irrational but a lot calmer. But she now clearly has some kind of issue and it's causing her to behave very strangely. There are lots of posters here who have English as a second language who are perfectly comprehensible. So I don't really think it is that.

Incidentally after all this talk of getting the best education for your children, research indicates that of all the many areas/ options considered, the best indicator of academic success is whether the parents eat with their children. I guess this is why groups such as Chinese, Indians, Jewish outperform other groups in the UK as family meals are important elements of their respective cultures.

No. It's to do with need and can the school meet that need. (not necessarily via EHCP, could be via diagnosis). But yes for specific special needs. And why I have spoken out against the VAT on special need schools fees. All that will do is push more SEN children back into state. And that's not good for those children and their peer groups.

I was an assisted place kid at a private school - slightly different because the government paid my fees. But honestly i think i benefited that class- academic schools get good results because of teaching and facilities but also because of competition between bright kids. I know I helped drive the standard up, as did most of my other friends also on assisted places.

I disagree. You are conflating issues that don’t concern each other. Most highly specialised independent schools for disabled children don’t allow parents to pay their own fees - it has to be an agreed government placement. The fees for schools like this can be £500k a year. I know because one of my children has very high care needs and this was her.

When it comes to mainstream private schools that cost more like £20k a year, many, many of them will say they don’t take autistic children and they can’t accept children with an EHCP, anyway.

My own experience of SEN in independent schools is as follows:

Our state infant school couldn’t meet autistic DS’s needs in spite of him having an EHCP and 1:1 support. Unfortunately they repeatedly disregarded his EHCP and redeployed his 1:1 LSA elsewhere. He urgently needed small, quiet classes in a small school which the mainstream state school was unable to provide.

We moved counties to a small private school. They were very happy to have this particular autistic student with an EHCP. We paid the fees ourselves. After a few months the LA paid for the 1:1 support.

After 3 years the gap between him and his mainstream peers was too wide and by then he was the right age for a place in an independent specialist autism school. The LA eventually agreed to place him there. They paid the fees. In comparison with other special needs schools it wasn’t extortionately expensive and a couple of families were self funding - though this must have been a huge strain on them.

My DC was rejected by a few local private schools, despite being very academically capable and low support needs in school. Thankfully he was accepted by school we wanted for them - small, nurturing and pastoral.

That was our experience, too. Some of them are non selective. But the ‘small, nurturing’ school we chose turned out not to be as nurturing as we hoped because dd is being physically bullied and they tell us it’s not happening.

OP

Persepctive sways judgement and opinion.

I can completely understand the passion for SEN all parents want the best for their children and I also understand the appeal of “private school” for families who want their children wearing those branded uniforms however the topic of this post is bursary.

Independent schools have been inflating fees past inflation since 2010. Private schools used to operate, function, deliver. Now they don’t.

Every corner of the U.K. there is an independent school making their own decisions RE bursary. Claiming “charitable status” ought to be funding the wider communities however as proven access to these bursaries are going direct to internal wants (staff/staff friends ‘discounts’) are being lumped in with “bursary” figures on annual financial accounts.

In UK over half of all bursary funds are non means tested so are lining the pockets of people just like the OP.

Most paying their full fees feel the sting! We don’t realise what pot we’re paying into. Since VAT more and more families demanding transparency we don’t just want to see ‘bursary’ we want financial breakdowns. Finances mismanaged and independent schools simply cannot make money. They’re over spending.

Independent schools need to restructure and should offer staff in this climate a salary, lunch (perk) Not bursaries for friends and family holding places (multiple for many staff members) schools need to sell those seats. Tiered fees are no longer sustainable. If it were sustainable there’d be no reason to increase fees 5-8% annually or pass on the VAT. It’s not a sustainable model. 40,000 families (already) left. Historic schools closing week after week.

Selective independent schools should have fixed fees for all bar means tested bursary. Bursary should be monitored to ensure the best candidate who deserves it earns the funding.

IMO, Independent schools are corrupt and those with access to the administration have access to the funding. Funding which comes directly (in most independent schools) from families pockets.

The model of independent school needs staff on decent wages and no perks, no fee remissions. The tiered fees/opportunities are a major problem. Non means tested bursaries and staff fee remissions have eroded the “private school” product. Unsustainable.

Independent schools non selective are very different. Entirely different. The government should utilise these buildings and facilities to work with independent schools and closely monitor SEN so that “SEN schools” are not just being used as a cash cow by unscrupulous grifters but actually deliver the quality education all children deserve.

OP Bursary.

This is what we full fee payers need to be protesting about. It’s disgraceful! but a prime example of what is going on in independent school administration departments.

Hi all, this thread seems to have grown a lot. We are going to apply and pay the full fee if needs be, because the school seems really good.

If all families pay their fees it will be.

If the school have the financial reserves to cover bursary it will be.

Sadly, outside of London this doesn’t happen. Families are funding all bursaries. Resulting in fee increase and diluted provision.

Which schools offer fee discounts for the children of family members of teachers/staff as opposed to just their own children?

The ones who at point of admission know who’s “friends and family” are applying.

Many staff kids at selective independent schools holding seats In oversubscribed schools yet, unable to keep up with the work. Which obviously stands out in any classroom. Those seats meant for full fee payers to maintain the value, standard of the offering or “charitable status” to a child within the community assessed as gifted deserving of the bursary funding an asset to the school and full fee paying families.

Interesting. Do you have a link to this? Are most children of staff/relatives of staff known to be dragging the overall standard down? You say ‘many’.

My child had a staff fee discount and also had two scholarships. I’m only commenting on my own experience of course.

You say ‘had’ perhaps pre VAT this was affordable for schools or you were at a school who self funded bursary (many don’t it’s directly from full fee paying families) A official bursary report linked on this thread.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/parenting/5551437-independent-schools-in-2026-are-full-fees-still-worth-paying?reply=153510180&utm_campaign=reply&utm_medium=share

If schools can afford to fund all bursary that is a different matter. As we have the annual financial records for all schools we can see that’s not happening today.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/parenting/5551437-independent-schools-in-2026-are-full-fees-still-worth-paying?page=1

Interesting read.

https://www.pepf.co.uk/publications/bursaries-report-private-schools/