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Secondary education

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

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Original poster

Whitgift/Trinity bursary question

13 replies

zoikscooby · 26/09/2012 15:10

Does anyone know, is the W/T bursary dependent on academic excellence as well as income or is it purely means-tested?

What I mean is, if ds was to pass the exam, would he be offered the bursary automatically (assuming we fit the financial criteria)? Or is it all a bit more complicated than that?!

I do feel (and have been told by those in the know ) that ds wouldn't have a problem with the exam. But...on the other hand he's not got any outstanding sporting/musical ability to go along with it. He's a 'good all-rounder with potential' I think but not a real shining star/scholar at this stage. I feel that they might want a bit more bang than we could offer for their buck. Are those on bursaries also the ones with outstanding talent in a particular area already or is 'smart, enthusiastic, got potential' enough?

I know it's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string?' question but I'd be really grateful for any experiences!

OP posts:

meditrina · 26/09/2012 15:16

The number of bursary offers will depend on the amount of money they have to spend on new awards.

Yes, they indicate level of award that can be offered to income brackets, but that does not mean they can necessarily afford to make offers to all. So yes it may all come down to how much they want your DC - academically, prowess in other fields, or just how much they like them (smart enthusiastic, likely to be a pleasure to have in the school).

BooksandBrunch · 26/09/2012 23:37

I can't remember the exact number, but hypothetically speaking, it's something like say the top 120 bursary applicants that get a place. What I'm basically trying to explain is that not all the bursary applicants that pass, get offered a place.

I also heard about a child who did just okay on the test but was a champion at a sport that one of those schools highly regarded (won't say the name of the sport on case it identify's him) and got offered an honorary scholarship as a result.

Hope that helps.

BooksandBrunch · 26/09/2012 23:40

Oh and to answer your question further now I've re-read it, I also know of boys who were just smart and without any other sporting/musical abilities, who were awarded bursary places.

meditrina · 27/09/2012 06:49

I don't think honorary scholarships will help OP as they carry no cash award (or only a token amount); something also true of many ordinary scholarships now because there is a trend to reduce the value of non-means tested awards.

Original poster

zoikscooby · 27/09/2012 09:14

Thanks B&B and meditrina

The only way ds could attend W or T would be with a very generous bursary, but I guess all we can do is try. Though tbh, after last night's home tutoring session I'm thinking of throwing in the towel anyway!

OP posts:

BooksandBrunch · 27/09/2012 10:16

Hi Meditrina In this case the child doesn't have to pay a penny (wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise:0). Maybe it was backed with a bursary, although that's not what I was told.

Zoik Gosh when you read what've you've written in the morning, you note your mistakes. What I've been trying to say is, I know of dc's that applied for a bursary place, passed the test but didn't score high enough to get offered a bursuary, even though they hand out tons of them there. They were basically told, yes you can have a place but at full fees.

Re tutoring: I cannot tell you how pleased I am those days are over, with the tutoring and so forth - I was begining to look like a crazy woman and there were times, I'm convinced, that my ds hated me:)

Noseynoonoo · 27/09/2012 11:04

If he wouldn't have any problem with the exam, why does he have a tutor?

Seeline · 27/09/2012 12:44

Bursaries are offered according to the finances of the family and have to be applied for.
Scholarships can be given to those performing brilliantly in the entrance exam (academic scholaarships). All entrants are assessed for these. It is also possible to be tested for music, sport, drama and I think art and DT scholarships. Htese tests are spearate from the entrance exam. Pupils can be awarded a scholarship and a bursary.

Toughasoldboots · 27/09/2012 12:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

zoikscooby · 27/09/2012 12:59

He doesn't 'have a tutor', Noseynoonoo. I can't afford one, for a start. But like most kids of his age, he's never sat an external exam before so he and I do a bit of practice together at home. I don't think it would be fair to send him in to a situation like that with absolutely no preparation!

Thanks to everyone else for your input. We'll have a go and see what happens!

OP posts:

Original poster

zoikscooby · 27/09/2012 13:01

Oh, they definitely love the sporty ones, Tough! The sports facilities at W in particular are jaw-dropping...

OP posts:

Toughasoldboots · 27/09/2012 13:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BooksandBrunch · 28/09/2012 19:12

@Noseynoonoo and Zoik Irrelevant of how smart he is, there are always smarter and each year the kids are getting cleverer and cleverer still. A friends ds, who was offered Trinity but placed on the waiting list for Whitgift, was told that just last year he would have walked a place, but the cohort these days are now so advanced that he was further down the list than he would have been ordinarily. On that note, if you can squeeze a few extra pennies for a tutor, I can't see it doing any harm as most there would have had one (many deny it too), or would have least been preparing for a rather long time. If your ds is in state, and if whitgift still do Verbal and Non Verbal reasoning, he will most definitely need additional support.

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