Private schools with substantial scholarships / generous bursaries / means tested scholarships

[Muu9]

*for Sixth Form

I'm aware of the King's scholarship at Westminster, Christ's Hospital with generous bursaries, and Winchester with a 25% scholarship that stacks with bursaries.

Does anyone have any other recommendations?

Latymer Upper

City of London school

Most of the big names, especially the old, rich foundations (which usually means boys schools) will have substantial bursaries available, but you’d need to meet the financial criteria. Are you looking for day or boarding, girls or boys or mixed, and where in the country?

I’d start with the schools you like and look at the bursary information on their websites.

A considerable proportion of the boys at St Paul’s have bursary support of some sort.

Eton has good bursaries

But really a lot of private schools will offer very generous bursaries for the right candidates even if that is not advertised widely

If your child is very bright (or very good at something!) then it’s worth talking to whichever schools you like the look of.

Thanks everyone, I'm sure all the big names give full bursaries to low income students, but I was moreso thinking about the 60k-90k income range. Th bursaries available for that range would probably be more limited and also variable from school to school

Just so I understand you correctly, are you saying that many private schools will offer larger bursaries to students they want than they otherwise would even if the family's finances were the same?

Is there any way to suss out which schools might particularly "want" a student with a given profile that doesn't require going through the whole application process for a large number of schools? Is calling really helpful? I can't imagine a parent getting any response other than "bursaries are determined based on finances after the admission process has begun. Please complete the application process to apply for bursaries" etc etc

Yes - if a school wants a child then they’ll offer more money off. We have one student at our school who pays zero fees, but the parents could certainly have paid something, even if not full fees. They are a massive asset to an area the school specialises in, and other schools were offering large discounts as well.

You’re right that they won’t tell you in advance that they could discount further (that’s what I meant when I said the discounts aren’t advertised).

But it is worth checking if any schools have a particular interest in the subjects/skills your child can offer, and it’s worth applying to schools you especially like even if you don’t know that they have generous bursaries, as you may find they become more generous during the process, especially if your child gets multiple offers.

How can one learn which schools specialise in a given area, say physics or computing?

These 'wanted' students are quite few though.

Stowe has some 100% including extras bursaries but the pupil has to have quite a serious level of financial disadvantage or other ACE (adverse childhood experience) to be eligible.

What sort of students are they? Is it prodigious achievement in a specific subject (e.g. BMO/BPhO/BChO medals in year 11), a wall of 9s, or something like talent in an instrument or sport that the school happens to be looking to grow / can't find elsewhere in the incoming class?

It's not a coincidence that lots of the wealthy boarding schools all have tents at the Under 11s rugby festivals!

A wall of 9s won’t stand out from the crowd at a lot of these schools. For some of the boys schools if you’re an especially good rugby player in a position they don’t have or are struggling in then you’re likely in luck, but when I say good I mean top county player/England junior program participant. What you need to be wanted by these schools is to be exceptional among an already high achieving peer group, not just to be considered good.

ah so not academic .
but sidelines .

I guess academic wise they really can’t compete with tiffin /QE.

Highgate

Would the first example I gave of Olympiad level achievement not count?

Cranleigh, so I’ve heard.

I would say you're right, you won't really get any more info other than "please fill in the application form". And no, they are not going to tell you they are particularly looking for a child achieving highly in Physics for example. There is no way to suss that out (I don't think they plan it in that way... they look at all their applicants that year and make their choice). Truly the only way is to narrow down the schools you want to apply to and do the applications. Often the forms will be the same, as they use the same external company to vet applications, so that will save you work.

Frankly all you can do is try. The decision is based on so many different factors that you cannot control or know, such as who else is competing for a bursary that year. Don't imagine that your income is too high, there are many other factors they consider - the forms are many pages long and exhaustive, as you'd expect, to fully understand your personal circumstances and finances.

General rule of thumb - bursaries are means tested and scholarships are not, however they can sometimes be combined. Schools are lowering the bar on means testing these days as they recognise that salaries are not keeping pace with fees. However, to get a significant bursary or scholarship you need to be exceptional at something as well. Bursaries - this is typically awarded for academic potential in children from lower income households (they will always test this - so straight 9s helps but they'll also look at potential). Scholarships: music, drama, sport, tech etc. and you need to be truly exceptional. Schools recognise that these skills your child brings contribute to the community of the school and also reputation if they go off and win a gold at the Olympics - therefore scholarships and percentage given can vary depending on how much they want the child. Be aware - means testing also includes assets, so if you're sitting in a one million+ pound house with no mortgage, this is included in your assets! Happy to chat more if you want to DM me.

It may be worth saying that ‘exceptional’ can mean different things …

I know a recent graduate who was awarded a 50% scholarship and 50% bursary at (boarding) prep school, and a 100% bursary at the most famous Public School in the country. Obviously their family met the financial criteria - but the child, although clever, was far from naturally studious, and had no outstanding musical or sporting prowess. They were always far more focused on their own particular extra-curricular interests. I’m inclined to think they got these awards mainly through charm and confidence and always having something interesting to say. And by being their own person.

I would recommend being very upfront when speaking to the head and the bursar. From what I have heard ( and experienced) schools will make it financially viable for a child to attend assuming the child is very good at something the school wants or their is something about the child that appeals to the school and the school has money.

Have a look at state boarding schools. It’s like getting a 50% or more bursary.
DOYRMS is excellent. Gordon’s I believe is v good, but difficult to get into.

City of London state on their website that that have around 100 students on bursary. That probably makes it more likely to get one than a school that says nothing much on their website. Interestingly CLSG say they award bursaries to those students for whom the bursary place will be ‘most transformative’ which implies that they look at the full picture of child performance + potential + likely trajectory with/without bursary place given the family circumstances.
E.g. if the parent was previously high earning but currently isn’t they could possibly earn high in future, as against a child whose parent is disabled or in a low paying public service role where they might not earn highly even in the future.