Which independent secondary schools have scholarships which have real monetary value?

[stealthsquiggle]

This is pure research at the moment as we are a year or so off making decisions, but I am interested to know which schools have academic scholarships (note, not bursaries - non-means tested merit based is what I am interested in) which make any real impact on the fees? We are told that DS has the capability to win such a scholarship, but I am concerned that the head of his current school is focused on the ones which look good (i.e. are prestigious) and there is not much point him taking exams if we still wouldn't be able to afford the fees because the scholarship has no (or nominal) monetary value. We would be unlikely to qualify for means-tested bursaries.

All comments/opinions welcome. TIA.

[MrsGuyOfGisbourne]

Depends where you are & what you want. In SW London is entirely negotiable - if they want the child badly enough, but the most academic ones can fill their places many times over with full fee or bursary children and so do not need to. I heard of a parent a few years ago blagging a 100% scholarship, non means tested, which was way above the published rates - they had the chutzpah , and the child was a genius

[LadyLapsang]

Agree with the point things are changing, I know a family who received 100% scholarship for their son who is now in his mid 20s, same school and the academic scholarships then dropped to 10-30%, now they are approx £100 a term - so just recognition really. All the money can then go to those that need it which means a third of pupils receive means tested bursaries today. Must say I think it's a fairer system and one more in line with public benefit.

[Xenia]

It might change again when that court case coming up over the wrong way the Charity peopkle have interpreted the Charities Act in relation to private schools is corrected but until then it is likely the trend to bursaries which are means tested are likely to rule and academic scholarships where you're not poor are nominal in fee terms only.

If he doesn't want to board and the 2 or 3 possible day schools are not on easy bus routes perhaps consider an au pair who drives as she couldl get him to and from school each day by car.

[GrimmaTheNome]

I should have thought most independent schools - other than the two or three who were randomly picked on and 'failed' will be awaiting the outcome of that case. I know that one of those schools is in the process of trying to raise funds for bursaries (without raising the fees for all parents, mostly 'bog standard professionals') but that it'll take some time to manage it - it had no endowments, no scholarship funds to divert (its a primary, the idea of 'scholarships' for tinies is obviously ridiculous - they're perplexed what basis should be used to award bursaries!)

[noraelisa]

Would love to know about scholarship for st swiven school in winchester
How do you applied how much financial help can you get
Is it rare or are they re fair
Thank you for any help

[Hoppinggreen]

My dd gets 25% has an academic scholarship and for ex prep pupils this can go up to 50%.
We are in Yorkshire though so fees not too bad anyway

[SugarRush123]

Westminster offer 8 scholarships worth ca 50% of full boarding fees (you still have to pay almost the same as day pupils though). Scholars have to board, and are contractually obliged to take part in ceremonial services in Westminster Abbey on Sundays. And it’s rare (but not unheard of) for anyone outside the Under School to win a scholarship.
I don’t know where you are OP, but two other schools I can think of in SW London with generous scholarships (up to 25-33%) are Reed’s and Emanuel.

[ChocolateWombat]

This is a zombie thread from 6 years ago.

Would be interested to see it continue in the current climate and I suspect that there are now fewer big non means tested scholarships being offered.

Where we are (Home Counties day school) scholarships are £1k and remain flat rate. So in real terms, they become less each year as fees rise. They aren't quite honorary but not much more when the fees are £18k. They always stress that a means tested bursary can be added if people meet the means testing criteria. They want to give most of their money to means tested benefits now.

And it's possible to get scholarships stacked in name (which the Preps love as can list them as more than one award) when in actual fact they usually only attract one fee discount.

Would be very interested to hear if people are still getting the 50% scholarships without any means testing these days.

[user1471451327]

I am name-changing because it would be easy to work out who I am from my comments, but am a regular contributor. My son gets currently a 50% non means tested academic scholarship which lasts his whole school career (11-18) from a school on the list provided earlier in the thread. They are still being awarded. I understand that there is an HMC agreement that non means tested scholarships shouldn't exceed 50%.

My son's co-ed school is very old so they have a large endowment fund with a mix of large scholarships and high value bursaries; but also are more top 200 rather than top 50 in the independent school league tables. It is an excellent all-round school; he is an academic high flyer but not the only one, so there plenty of challenge.
I recognise that he is there to push the grade averages up, but non means tested scholarships are great for people like us (just above local bursary levels). We would/could not have spent more than the 50% on his schooling but then we had a pretty good choice of alternatives.

There are no requirements put on him other than to keep his grades up, which is no difficulty. Incidentally, he came from a state primary and I just gave him some practice papers before the testing.

[MrsPatmore]

Some London independents do offer 50% non means tested scholarships still but the child needs to be very bright. These can be 'topped' up with music and sports scholarships.

[greyfriarskitty]

if they want your child badly enough it is possible to create a 'bidding war' between a couple of schools, and that's how you get to 50%, at least it is round here (refuse first offer and hold your nerve). This was advice from our current prep school, I'll tell you how it goes in March.