Non-existent bursaries

[Nobursarymum]

Our family is badly off. My DD is very bright and talented in an all round kind of way. The comprehensive she goes to is not great, and is not challenging her.
So we looked into the possibility of her moving to one of our local good reputation private schools, by way of a bursary.
When I wrote to these schools, to explain our interest in the school, but that DD would need a bursary to enable her to attend, the responses were beyond frosty. Although the schools advertise bursaries of up to 100%, 2 of the schools didn't even respond. When I pressed one of them, I was told that they didn't offer bursaries. That was despite the fact that their website clearly stated that to enable talented children to attend the school, they offered bursaries of up to 100%. They also claimed that they had not seen 3 emails from me because 1) 2 of them had got lost in the vast number of emails the admissions officer of this small undersubscribed private school received, 2) 1 email had not been received because their email account was full.

It seems to me that schools are advertising bursaries - including 100% bursaries - in order to satisfy the Charity Commission. But without any intention of actually offering a bursary to anyone.

Was I stupid to take them at their word, and enquire about the possibility of a bursary? Is it common knowledge that these statements on websites are no more than window-dressing?

Agree with those who suggest bigger, older schools. A small, undersubscribed private school is unlikely to have much of a bursary pot, the long established big names have historical funds for exactly that. Think properly about what your daughter's real strengths are, and draw a wide net of possible schools. Especially if she is year 8 or above (and thus less likely to be able to get a place before 6th form), consider boarding schools too. The school my eldest is at seems to take a few more at year 10, after a main year 9 entry, but entries may be mostly worked out for next September now.

If you approach schools from the point of view of admissions possibilities, and working out how they would suit your daughter, and then discuss bursary options, hopefully you will get some helpful discussion from some of these schools. Maybe they can give you hope for 6th form entry and ideas for how to support your daughter till then, if necessary. Don't be put off by a "big name"! If you'd told me when my son was little, the senior schools he would end up targetting, I would have been shocked. For us, and for one of his friends similarly, boarding for senior school will work out cheaper than a dayschool.

I hope you get somewhere, good luck.

At my DC’s old school we regularly received letters inviting parents who were struggling with the fees to apply for a bursary but as I said they had a bursary pot of millions. Bursaries were available to all who had succeeded in getting a place not just scholars. My DH’s old school also has a bursary pot of millions and does a similar thing. But both are very famous big names. I also know at least 1 pupil at my DC’s who did get a substantial bursary at a non entry point so it can happen.
OP have looked at Christ’s Hospital? They I believe have an entry point in yr 9 and have a very generous bursaries policy.

Agree with Christ's Hospital and/or big names and/or boarding schools.

TBH I think you need to decide on the school - get a good fit for your daughter - then start talking money. Just getting an email doesn't argue any commitment at all on your part, and most selective schools of any type get significant results because the parents are hugely committed to their children's education and will move mountains and pay for extras for it.

Music is a good route to fee assistance. Can your daughter sing or does she show any aptitude for/interest in music at all? Have a think about a choir school. Not all are boarding.

Also double check whether there are any specific professional or local grant giving trusts that might help. There aren't many that I can see that help with day school fees, boarding is more likely. However, there's some strange individual trusts that help e.g. children of doctors, children of merchant seamen, children of people who have worked in the fashion or retail industry.

We were looking at DD moving for year 9. Of course I didn't assume that she would be offered a full bursary. I decided to be completely upfront about not being able to afford to send her without a substantial bursary, so as not to waste everyone's time and raise DD's hopes inappropriately. I would have been perfectly happy if they had explained that the bursary money had already been allocated, or had looked at our financial circumstances and decided we only merited a small bursary, or after DD had taken the entrance exam had said that they would prefer to award the bursary money elsewhere, or whatever. But completely ignoring emails sent asking whether it would be appropriate for DD to apply on this basis, and one of them stating that they didn't offer bursaries, when their website said that they did (this was the admissions officer), and then the clear lying about my emails not having been read. Not honest. DD is very bright and high achieving academically, but never actually got to the entrance examination stage!
I have decided that I will arrange some online tutoring and other opportunities for her. I hadn't considered boarding school for her, as she would need such a massive bursary for that, and although a great all-rounder and very bright, she doesn't have any massive talent in music or sport. And we couldn't afford a state boarding school (if we could, then we'd be able to afford the local private day school). Will re-think prior to 6th form. But of course the longer a child stays at a bad comprehensive, the more difficult it is to prove that they are good academically, as the private school kids will have had great teaching / small classes etc over all those years.

I am very committed to her education - have done a lot with her at home.
She can't sing much - no natural ability for that, sadly.

The point is - boarding schools (the big names, at least) have much more money for bursaries and actually welcome applications from suitable candidates.

But you do have to apply at the correct point in time. If you are still within the application window there’s no harm in widening your search to include the type of place that has been mentioned here.

I think it depends on school. At our local independent parents earning below say 40k are eligible to apply but for a very limited pot. We were on 27k when we looked into this but then I found another job which took us just over.

I think some of the big London school bursaries the threshold is much bigger and with more money.

Is your dd in year 8 or year 7 now? I’m only asking because if she is year 8 and would start year 9 this Sept, most schools will have done their entrance exams, scholarship exams from Oct - Feb and offers along with bursary offers would have been made in Feb, so it is possible that they really cannot accommodate your dd at this time so late in the year.
My dds school is one of the better known older establishments and they offer some amazing scholarships for girls entering into the LVI from state schools, with 2 awards being 90-100% off fees.

Does your dds school set for sciences, maths, English? Hopefully if it does then she will be amongst like minded students who want to achieve and excel at school and hopefully she will still enjoy learning and not be pulled down.
I’m still shocked though that the admission dept have been so rude. Telling anyone that their email wasn’t read or ignored because they have a full inbox doesn’t give off a good impression to me. I’d be looking elsewhere. You might want to contact the older independent schools as well. As a pp said, they do tend to have a bigger ‘pot’ and could probably offer better advice and a way forward for you. I was very nervous when I first contacted my dds school as I felt a bit out of my league but they were wonderful and helped me enormously.
Best wishes

Do the schools not have bursary packs you can ask for with all the information in them?Our old school did this. Also small schools have way less money and it comes from fee income so other parents are often paying the lions’ share. Many of these parents are scrimping and saving to afford the fees.

This is not the case at the bigger “name” schools especially if they have a very old foundation. Few girls’ schools are very rich but co-ed schools are a better bet.

For entry into y9, the exams are usually in January. Few schools give bursaries to less then highly talented children. This may be academic but could be in other areas. You will have to try for academic by the sound of it.

Also, your school may not be a total disaster. Not all private schools are good. Some have pretty useless teachers. Some are not financially sound.

The schools may well have used up their butsary money but they should have told you about entry points and how their system works.

Personally, I don’t email. I prefer a phone call for the information pack. I think you have sounded a bit demanding and rushed to conclusions about foul play. Many schools have a phenomenal number of applicants and give to existing parents. They have to make choices. I would enquire elsewhere and be realistic about your DD qualifying. If she has a very high academic talent, it’s worth a go. GDST schools are worth looking at.

Thank you for your advice. I'm going to stop worrying about this. Unfortunately, DD's school doesn't ability set for any subjects, which is a big part of the problem.
I have a lot of ideas for how to help her to get a good education despite her not being challenged at her current school, and have already put some of these in place. This does mean that in a couple of subjects she is a long way ahead of the rest of her year, but she is also doing some work at home on areas that are not covered by her school. It is interesting that when she talks about her favourite subjects, they are all the ones that she is doing at home.
She is a great girl - very capable and enthusiastic. So we must be doing something right.

You say you would need a massive bursary for boarding but in practice the income cut off point for a bursary is much higher. The annual income sum frequently quoted on here for eligibility for a bursary is 40k but fairly obviously with fees for boarding coming in at 36k pa plus extras this would be a totally unrealistic income cut off point. We easily earned double that (although we were asset poor) and still qualified for a significant bursary at a big name full boarding school.

Why would you expect registrars to fall over for you when you can’t be bothered to visit. That’s not how it works.

Of course I could be bothered to visit. The school I didn't visit was the one where I wrote to explain that we were interested in the school but needed to check their position on financial assistance, as would not be able to afford full fees. And they did not answer. I didn't want to arrange a visit and waste everyone's time by misleading them into thinking that we could afford full fees.
We visited the others, as we were in time to make their open days.
I don't expect anyone to "fall over" for us. Just to be honest. I realised from the outset that as we needed a significant fees reduction the chances were that we would not be successful. My post was not me being angry that DD was not offered a bursary. It was about the honesty issue.

I've known students attend private school on 100% bursary, but they were kids on course for all A* GCSEs, with household income circa £12k.

It was also normal for parents to express interest a year in advance, with entrance exams/student visit days in January, for September entry. Normally kids sit the exams first, visit the school, interview with the Head/DH, join in a PE lesson, audition for the music teacher etc etc, then start talking about bursaries.

The bursary system - if I may call it that - is remarkably opaque though. I've also known kids attending on scholarships whose parents paid full whack anyway. They could afford it fine and didn't mind paying, but it was nice to have the prestige of saying their child had qualified.

You sound very grabby, to put it in Mumsnet-speak.

I am certainly not going to worry about it any more now, and will focus on the benefits of being in the state system (because there are some, and I value them). But will think again well ahead of 6th form. May well decide not to do anything, but will at least think about it on time! And based on what people have said on here, will consider the possibility of applying to boarding school rather than to less well off local day schools. I'm aware that being very good academically and all round very competent and enthusiastic at everything, with enthusiastic school reports, may not be enough - that schools may insist on a very high level of talent in music or sport, or genius level academically. In which case, fair enough but would be good to find that out in advance. We have a low income - I don't see us getting above any income threshold.

Thanks Crafty, I have been getting the impression that we haven't gelled . I assume you'd disapprove of anyone who can't afford full fees applying to a private school then or even, as in our case, asking a preliminary question about financial support before deciding whether to apply.

I realised from the outset that as we needed a significant fees reduction the chances were that we would not be successful.

You kinda need a more positive attitude! Serendipity plays a part in the process - it’s a matter of finding exactly the school that thinks your child is a perfect fit for them. At which point everything might fall into place relatively easily. Don’t bother banging your head on the brick wall of anywhere that clearly isn’t interested.

And, actually, it might be as well to show an interest in the school, first. You would not be wasting anyone’s time - decent schools are interested in attracting the right pupils and will offer what they can if that makes attendance possible (not just desirable).

Thanks Gruach - I will take that on board when thinking about 6th form. I have tried not to invest too much in the process emotionally, by being realistic about the chance of success. I am very very grateful for the fact that DD is very clear-headed and despite really liking the schools that we looked round, has accepted with no angst that she will not be going to one of them.

It could be that they don't offer them at non standard entry points, only to those already at the school whose circumstances change or that funds are already allocated. Some will only use them to boost scholarships. Bursaries are usually managed by the bursarial department not admissions.

Very few private schools offer 100% bursaries. Often s holarships and bursaries are part of the windowdressing but very small %ages. Sorry you had to find this out the hard way.

Do you have specific issues with her current school you could address?

Sorry, ignore me-missed a whole chunk of the thread.

Nobursarymum it would be helpful if you could give a rough idea of the area you are looking in (without being too specific) so that anyone with first-hand experience can give you advice on specific schools. Btw I don't think you come across as remotely 'grabby' - It doesn't take much time or effort for a school to explain their procedures for awarding bursaries. Not responding to emails is just rude and thoughtless, potentially making the 'supplicant' feel small and undeserving. As other posters have remarked, the bigger and better known a school is, the more likely they are to have a more professional approach plus a bigger pot of money, and they do not all select hyper academic children for bursaries.

and they do not all select hyper academic children for bursaries.

This is delightfully true. (May not matter to the OP now - but just in case anyone’s interested ...) Obviously the more academic the school the more they’ll demand of people wanting to join - but where they are able to exercise some discretion I’ve known schools to place just as much emphasis on more nebulous qualities. Boarding schools particularly (perhaps) want boarders who will add to the sparkiness and stimulation of living in a community. And are quite likely to reject a super-bright child who simply couldn’t thrive in a boarding environment. So gregariousness, originality and independent thought may be just as valuable as off-the-scale musical ability or whatever.

(All schools differ, of course.)

I would also suggest though that schools are less interested in children that only offer one string to their bow, as it were. Scholarships and bursaries are likely to go to those that are very academic and gifted in music, sports, art as well.
Certainly all the schools we investigated were far more interested in what the DC did outside the classroom- they can very easily judge from the entrance exam where children lie academically. Quite simply if two children score outstandingly on the entrance exam, and one is grade six on two instruments or(/and!!) plays for a county sports team too... guess which one is a more attractive prospect for the school?