Practical advice needed for private school application and bursary

[bedelia]

I want to apply for DD to attend a private school and feel utterly out of my depth. I know no-one IRL who can offer advice on how to go about doing this and most of my friends think I'm crazy to even consider it!, so I'm hoping any MNers who have applied for their own DCs may be able to offer some advice.

There are two private schools to which I intend to apply, one of which is selective and depends on the results of an exam. Both mention bursaries and have open days in October, though details of how to apply for a place (and the bursary) are vague.

Tomorrow I need to call and make enquiries - should I mention interest in the bursary when I call or wait until later (such as the point we hand in the application)?

Currently DD attends our local primary. She's very bright and hardworking, and looks set to do very well in the SATS next year, but I'm a little anxious that DD will be competing for a place with others who have had a much broader curriculum. Her school does virtually no MFL or music, for example, and until recently, it was in special measures (I'm sure you get the picture). Will this have a big effect on her chances at being offered a place? I've always done lots with her outside of school, but am wondering whether it might be necessary to scrape together for a tutor to fill in some of the gaps to give her a fighting?

Unfortunately DD would need a full bursary (or very close to) for me to be able to send her to either of these schools. Believe me, if I could change the situation we're in and stand a chance of getting her into a half-decent secondary, or find a way to pay the fees for private myself, I'd do so in a heartbeat! I know 100% bursaries are rare as hen's teeth, but really feel I owe it to her to try!

We've already started looking at 11+ past papers, and will enquire at the selective school about practise papers for the exam, but would love any recommendations for websites/resources we should use.

Any advice on this would be truly appreciated.

Decent private schools usually have an admissions secretary or a bursery department. When you phone say you are interested in applying for a bursary if your child is awarded a place in the school and ask to speak to someone who can give you some advice and information about them. You probably should ask how many bursaries they awards each year, what are the criteria for awarding them,how much they are, what do they cover (eg are there any extras not covered)how many are full bursaries and at what stage should you apply.
Asking these questions won't affect your child's application and schools are used to prospective parents asking.

If you need 100% you should be upfront. Arrange to meet the bursar and ask how many 100% they have awarded each year over past 5 years and based on what criteria. Funding is finite and more smaller awards are typical. Often they need to do really well in entrance assessments or be musical/sporty too. I'm surprised the application process isn't transparent from the website as usually the forms and notes are downloadable. Applications may close very soon after the next open day with tests and interviews in December or January. It might be best to have a personal tour and meeting before then.

And check what each assessments includes as 11+ is not universal . Sample exams should be available on request and tests may include verbal, nonverbal and/or numeric reasoning which can't really be learnt but tactics and speed can be improved with practice. Bonds papers are good for those.

Ditto advice of others, it's really something you need info from individual bursars on. I'd only add that the bigger, more popular schools are generally more likely to give out full bursaries. More money in the bursary pot to start with, and unlike a less popular school can take the hit of losing 100% fees from an individual place.
Dd has a small scholarship topped up to 100% with a bursary. But right from the start she knew that was the only way she could go. She's from a state primary too. Schools will give you an idea of the average level they're looking for, and it's normally just maths, English and nvr/vr. So broad curriculum doesn't actually matter. The only thing to bear in mind is that there's a big gap between how well you need to do for a place, and how well you need to do for a bursary.

I used to work in the bursary department of a fee paying school 'group'. 100% bursaries do exist but you sound very sensible in knowing that they are rare!

As well as a straight forward bursaries there are sometimes funded places which are 'won' in some way or another (for example for academic excellence in a particular subject) it tends to be just one place funded a year though.

Just as an aside, and not wanting to sound like the merchant of doom but please also look at what you will be expected to pay which isn't covered by the bursary- for example uniform tends to be very prescriptive and expensive. You may be obliged to pay for school lunch rather than the option of packed lunch. PE equipment can extensive.

Good luck, your daughter is very privileged to have you

DC uniform isn't that extortionate although games kit probably cost as much as the rest. There is a second hand sale every half term where current items are less than half price and some basics can come from chain store or supermarket. Maybe cost us £500 with a mixture of these. Most foreign trips are optional. Lunch, bus, music, drama , exam fees are extras.

On the uniform and trips etc, again speak to bursars and finance departments. Dds uniform in total works out as the same as the state schools. From dds school and a few others, I've noticed the ones with steeper fees, generally include more extras to start with, so if you're on a full bursary again it's not going to necessarily be more costly than state school extras. Things like the fact she can join clubs for free at school that would cost as an outside activity otherwise. Ski trips are as costly as the school with the highest fsm in the area. And she wouldn't be going on those either. And some schools will include uniform and travel help too.

Do you know what she is predicted to get in her SATS? Is she good at sports?

I may seem dim here but I don't understand why a school that offered 100% or very substantial bursaries would have such expensive uniform, trips, and other added expenses.
I can understand the ones who only offer token bursaries, obviously they are going to appeal to those who want more expensive terms for their dc education.

Thank you all so much for your advice! I was able to learn a little more about bursaries for the selective school (it's a GDST school, so lots of info on the website), which makes me a little more hopeful that financially DD might qualify for a bursary, though of course we'd need to hope that she's academically bright enough, that the school would want her to attend, that there might be enough funds in the pot...

Also looked into the cost of uniforms for both schools - thanks to those who mentioned it! The selective one is super-expensive (as I imagined it would be) but surprisingly the other costs roughly the same as our local comps. The GDST bursary policy mentions foreign holidays and understandably expects those in receipt of a significant bursary will not take part. DD and I have talked about things like this already as I wanted to make sure she was fully aware before even considering applying!

I was able to speak to someone from the non-selective school today, and have an appointment to meet the headmaster next week. Feeling really nervous about it especially as it's blindingly obvious from our postcode and DD's current school that we live on a certain council estate.. Any tips?

onlytoes - no formal predictions yet (hoping her teacher will discuss this at parents evening next month) though judging from DD's levels at the end of last year I'm hopeful she'll reach level 6 in maths and at least 5 in English.

I know English is her weaker (and currently least favourite) subject of the two, so I'm seriously considering scraping together the money paying for tuition to help with this and any other areas where she might benefit from a boost. I know it's probably a little late for this to have much of an impact on her results for the entrance exam, though hope that it will help set her on a path to better progress at our local comp if it's not viable for her to attend private.

Hoping to speak to someone from the selective school tomorrow when it opens for the Autumn term for more details. Once again, thank you all for your help

Bedelia. That sounds promising. I'm pleased to hear you say level 6 maths. Scoring highly on maths in the exam (at least in my dd's selective, non-London independent school) would be most likely to get you ascholarship topped up with a bursary if you qualify. My dd's uniform is about £100 more than the state uniform would be. She goes to a school where most pupils don't go on most of the trips. Some aren't extortionate, so you might even be able to put a small sum away monthly and send her on one trip, if she got in. Good luck.

"I can understand the ones who only offer token bursaries, obviously they are going to appeal to those who want more expensive terms for their dc education"

I think there might be some confusion about terms. (and of course schools themselves sometimes use terms idiosyncratically).

Scholarship: award made for excellence (academic, sports, music etc) which may be token or have more substantial value.

Bursary: means tested award, so that children who could not otherwise attend the school can do so. Usually substantial. Can exceed 100% (to cover uniform and journey to school)

It's not always necessary to be of scholarship level in any one field to secure a bursary (though it damned well helps, and in some schools it's necessary), but there has to be sometime about the candidate that the school really wants to see in its pupils.

(And a bit of tutoring on exam technique might be useful at this stage. Especially if you can find one who knows the style of exams your cansdidate schools use).

Dds state primary was on the neighbouring council estate. We live on the edge of another, anyone looking at a map would think we live on it. If asked we usually both tend to name the council estate as the area we live in. It didn't seem to bother dds very posh and stately school.

Pressed post too soon. Re levels, if maths is her stronger subject then she has an advantage in entrance exams because usually if you're good at maths, you find nvr/vr easier too. Dds entrance exams were all described as needing to be a level 5 for a basic pass, although the content did have some higher stuff. So really being able to do the easier stuff at speed was more the skill needed in the exam because there wasn't the chance to show much higher level knowledge. Then at interview they threw the higher level stuff at her.

Good luck with your application for your DD OP. If the GDST school is part of the London consortium group, there should not be any NVR papers. Others run their own exams so check if needed. Past papers are available on their websites. Download other selective schools papers too from websites.

Great that your DD is already strong in maths. It's not too late to support her for January exams - get her to read (and then read some more). Don't under-value the comprehension and creative skills...the former is quite often tricky and last year's papers were tougher than previous years. However, it's where a talented student can stand out. Include fictional, non fictional, newspaper articles etc and then ask her questions - I understand the pressure to get a tutor but you can do this. Also, obtaining a good tutor at this stage is full of risks...most will be booked now, or the decent ones will be, so save your money.

Gradually build up her ability to do the papers under timed conditions, but don't throw it all at her now, hopefully you can spot any gaps (and if you can ask the school to then help you...you'll be surprised that most will).

Also, some of the GDST schools can offer a mixture a scholarships topped up with bursary awards - ask them.

The downside to all of this is to manage your DD's expectations, which by all accounts, you sound like you are doing. She will appreciate you trying though, really hope you succeed!

...creative writing. Apologies!

Marking place!

Plus have a look on the 11+forum. I found it post exam and I'm sure pre exam would be better!
Don't overly worry about the lack of years of tutoring for a full bursary either. In dds interviews at 2 schools they asked her to do academic stuff that in my opinion was designed to discover whether her exam score was from hot housing or raw ability, and what her attitude to learning was. They just need the ability to show what they can do in an exam. Your dd is competing with very able kids that need large or full bursaries, which means they probably haven't come from homes with the money for prep schools and years of tutors. It's the ones who are either more able, or slightly less so than your dd but tutored more by parents that she's up against, not hugely less able but hot housed kids.

I would like to echo the read, read, read advice. Your DD has a great advantage if Maths is her strong point - but this is really important.

Read with her, read to her, have her read aloud to you. Interrupt with explanations and reminiscences and whatever seems linked to the passage in front of you. Read lots. In building up her stamina and enthusiasm for narrative she'll be building the skills to respond with alacrity and sponteneity in interviews (formal or informal.)

Having re-read your OP I realise you meant that you do lots of schoolwork with her outside school.

Which is great - but does she have any extra-curricular interests that you'd be able to encourage?