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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Can anyone suggest an independent school that...

34 replies

didofido · 18/12/2011 12:20

...(1) is less hung up on team sports than the average - I accept there will be some compulsory; and
(2) is generous with bursaries.

Thanks

OP posts:
amerryscot · 18/12/2011 21:33

Meditrina - no, you can google for yourself.

Dido fido - you are talking about exhibitions.

joanofarchitrave · 18/12/2011 21:41

I'm mystified by some of what you are posting amerryscot. As I read it, the Charity Commission suggests that schools doing well and providing public benefit tend to offer between 5% and 15% of their income in bursary form, but I can't see any specifics on how big those bursaries should be; only that lack of full-fees bursaries can be a problem for a school's charitable status. The recent judicial review is also clear that schools don't have to rely on bursaries to prove their charitable benefit.

I also can't see any legal requirement that a school have charitable status - they have to apply to pass the benefit test. In reality of course, to compete financially, they would be daft not to try. But if they think that offering more bursaries is the way to go and doesn't affect their legal obligations, why wouldn't they offer them? They are institutions run on a competitive basis. If they think that their full-fee-paying parents can stand the strain, they are free to do that. It's hardly the responsibility of parents applying to the school to exclude their children in case other parents can't manage another above-inflation fee rise.

meditrina · 18/12/2011 21:45

ThaT's the point - I cannot find anything in the Charities Act which stipulates this, or Charity Commission guidance, or recent legal rulings (in fact the latter strongly suggests no such thing), hence need for signposting from you.

amerryscot · 19/12/2011 06:31

The whole Charities Commission brouhaha was the last government's ideology that was impossible to enact. It is extremely difficult for a school to either become a charity or to stop being a charity.

If you speak to anyone involved in finances in an independent school, they will tell you that overall discounts should not exceed 10% of fee income in a healthy school. There are plenty of unhealthy schools, financially, btw - but you don't hear about them until they start going tits up. A bursary fund of 5% is enough to satisfy the charity commissioners. This is unpublished information because it is only when a school presents its criteria that the commissioners say yes or no. Now we are a few years down the line from the original initial discussions, 5%, in practice, has been acceptable.

That is not to say that 5% is the level of discount to an individual child. That would be pointless, as the parents would still have to be very affluent to pay the other 95% Most healthy schools will give one bursary per year that is close to full fees (eg 75 - 100%). Some schools have additional income for bursaries, separate to fees, so they may be able to give out more.

Scholarships of 10% are marketing tools for the school, and not to be confused with bursaries. They bump up the fees for everyone to pay for these. If you look at the wide range of school fees charged, you can see which schools give out scholarships as if they were candy. Again, a healthy school will keep a tight reign over scholarships, and probably prefer to give exhibitions instead.

didofido · 19/12/2011 08:34

"It's hardly the responsibility of parents applying to the school to exclude their children in case other parents can't manage another above-inflation fee rise."
Well said, Joan (love your name, by the way)

amerryscot has a grievance about the 'underserving poor' it seems

OP posts:
amerryscot · 19/12/2011 08:43

Don't shoot the messenger.

didofido · 19/12/2011 08:48

Messenger? The message seems to be your own.

OP posts:
MoreBeta · 19/12/2011 08:50

didofido - the Birmingham schools are very tough to get into and passing the exam to get a scholarship even tougher. Unless your DC is exceptionally bright I doubt he wil get an academic scholarship to KES.

What you may want to try is one of the less academic schools in the West Midlands (ie easier to get a scholarship) and also go and talk to schools about bursaries for children from low income families.

The final option is to try and get a job in a private school. I know several parents who do IT, admin and teaching jobs in private schools and get 50% fee reductions as a result.

amerryscot · 19/12/2011 08:51

Take it or leave it.

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