Sports scholarships - Eltham/Trinity/St Dunstans

[KathyBeale]

My y6 son is a very good swimmer and desperate to go to a secondary school with a pool. There are no state schools with pools near us, so we have been looking at some of the nearby independents (where he often competes in galas) - Eltham College, Trinity and St Dunstans.

We went to Eltham yesterday and WOW. What an amazing school. But we absolutely can't afford private school so he'd have to get a scholarship and I'm finding the information they provide quite confusing. I'm going to email the school tomorrow with questions but I thought perhaps some of you wise types might know more.

My biggest concern is that though he's a great swimmer and the sort of boy who can pick up any sport really, he doesn't do any other sport (swimming takes up all his time, to be honest) and he has never played rugby which seems to be the top sport in all these schools. Can he apply for a sports scholarship with just one sport?

And my other big concern is whether he'd fit in. Neither of us went to private school and I lost my job recently so we don't have a lot of spare cash. Are there a lot of extra expenses with private schools? Would he stand out if we couldn't afford the expensive trips and whatnot?

He loved Eltham so much (we've not been to Trinity or Dunstans yet) and says he'll work hard for the exam (he's a bright boy anyway and pretty focused) and he's very committed to swimming (aiming for the Olympics in 2028, so he says!) so I don't want to stop him trying, but I'm very nervous about it all and don't want to get his hopes up if there's no chance of him going.

Any advice?

Usually sports scholarships would only account for between 5% and 20% of school fees although a bursary might be available. Could you afford the balance of fees if you couldn't get a bursary?

My son's school had a pool and swimming but sports scholarships for boys were based on performance over 4 sports requiring excellence in at least 2 of rugby, football, cricket or athletics.

Oops posted too soon.

If he was truly of national standards then they may accept him. There are many types at private schools and certainly not everyone does trips etc and many use the second hand uniform shops.

Eltham test running, hockey, cricket, rugby and swimming (if applicable) and you are up against the 50/60 odd junior school kids who invariably go into seniors. Everyone gets entered into academic scholarship (max 50%) and there is s bursary scheme (max 50 %). They invite around 30 external kids after they've sat the test in Jan). Trinity's sports scholarship assessment is even more competitive but they have a more generous bursary scheme. Absolutely go for it - there's no harm in trying.

There was another thread about independents with pools a few months back. I can't find it now but the gist seemed to be that unless it was specialist swimming school it is best to do the swimming outside of school. Often the teachers are not specialist swimming coaches etc. Also DD had a pool at her all girls independent school and they only swam once a fortnight as other local state schools used the pool. If you need a bursary too bear in mind if you own your home they may take equity into account. Also look at Sevenoaks school. Amazing pool and great facilities- easy to get to from SE London.

As far as I can tell we'd qualify for a bursary for Trinity but not Eltham. We do have equity in our house, but I'd never sell it for school fees, and we probably couldn't afford to top up by much, if at all. He'd really have to double up on scholarships if he was realistically going to go to a private school.

It's interesting to know how much swimming they may or may not do. And he swims four/five times a week with his club at the moment so maybe it's better to focus on that.

I'm going to email Eltham now and ask whether it's worth applying. It's the first private school I've seen and it has BLOWN my mind! I fear it's now ruined my expectations for all the other open days we're going to.

Have some info on Eltham - they are v generous with academic scholarships (we know 3 families who successfully negotiated it up to 50%), and one of those families got a sports scholarship (25%) on the basis of being good at cricket -not county level, just good.

My advice if you like Eltham would be to make your position clear to the Head / Head of Admissions. If they know they're your top choice and why, you stand a better chance.

Colfes also v generous with academic/sports scholarships?

If you do get a sports scholarship, your son would probably need to turn out for various teams and have a lot of sporting commitments at an independent school. Speaking to friends who have children at independent schools, they also get far more homework, to be done over a far shorter time period, than my son has. Something to think about with squad commitments.

My ds (13) swims six times a week, with 5 am starts for some of them, and Saturday morning swimming. I would check (a) what school commitments would be for Saturday mornings (extra sport, Saturday school) and (b) how negotiable your club are re squad attendance. Also with galas - would you have to do school swim galas at the expense of regional competition if they fell on the same weekend?

My son had a scholarship for local independent, but chose to go State (we are lucky in that all our State schools are "outstanding"). The State school looks NOTHING like the local independent - ie falling down! However, academically it is fantastic and he loves it. He does do sport through the school and has plenty of homework, but swimming can be managed around it. There is no swimming at all at his State school, all his swimming is through the club.

He has had several friends stop swimming this year - some at a National level - because they are fed up of it. This happens a lot due to the commitment levels for swimming. What your son loves now, he may not want to do in Year 8 or Year 9, so don't base everything round swimming. Many of my son's friends who have stopped had their hearts set on Olympics and were top 5 nationally for their event when they were age 9 to 12, but they just fell out of love of the sport.

I would find the school that is best for your ds, and not worry about the swimming side at all. If he stays at the same standard, then perhaps look elsewhere for A levels, i.e. Millfield or Ellesmere College for boarding, but until he is 16 you won't really know what he is capable of at swimming. One of our local boys has just started boarding at Ellesmere - he is No. 1 nationally in numerous events.

Good luck!

Esther that's brilliant advice from a fellow swimming mum, thank you. We also have good local state schools which may well end up being a better choice for him. I will remind him that he will be swimming a lot for his club and not having a pool at school isn't the end of the world!