School fees help!!!

[squirrel35]

Hi all
My son has been awarded a music scholarship and with that and what we can afford we can cover 80% of the fees. Any ideas if there is a anyine else I can apply to? My son is so desperate to go and he would gain so much musically from it but I just cannot afford the extra 20%
I have spoken to the school but they can not offer anymore as they already gave us a bursary as well
Anyone have experience if this??

@linoleum
Did you read the thread?
Her DS is a musician (must be good, or wouldn't have been offered a music bursary); this private school will nurture his musical talent.
Not quite as simple as state v private.
There are some state schools that offer Music aptitude places but they're extremely competitive and few & far between.

@Rupert, all the things you mention such as theatre visits, science weeks etc are free at dds state school. We do pay for trips though. But this term has included music festivals, author visits, science weeks, theatre visits, concerts that are funded by the school.

Op if your son does not go to the fee paying school you have the equ of what you would have spent on school fees to spend on top class music tuition and there are pits of conservatoirez, orchestras etcetc

Most the charitable trusts won't fund if you already have a bursary and are only for music lessons. Dd was funded for lessons and loan of a violin.

Ps the county music system is very good for orchestral instruments and for voice cathedrals and some parish churches have excellent (and free) music education usually combined with state school. Several of my DD's friends are at conservatoire or university studying music from this route

Why would Andrew Lloyd webber pay someone's school fees? 😂He has his own state schools he supports.

Op when you applied, what was your plan for making up the shortfall between bursary and the fees, how did you plan to fund that? Did you investigate or apply for charitable funding already?

Without wishing to derail this I have just (because I am sad) pulled out last 3 invoices £1970 including uniform per child. That’s just under £4K per year in extras.

HollowVictory - agree. ALW has state schools that he supports and has supported for some years.

As I said earlier, lobbying for funding is done well in advance and thoroughly vetted. Sending off a tweet/email/letter won't get you any further than one of the front line staff, who will rattle off the templated response

By all means try grants and trusts - get hold of the big charity directory someone mentioned up thread. But you may find yourself scrabbling round every year as I’m not sure how far in advance they agree money.

But I’m not sure what he will really gain musically? I did a music degree and have many friends who went to music college and are professional musicians. You don’t need to be in a private school. Is your borough or county music service good? Is he good enough to apply for the national youth orchestra? The main thing is good instrumental/vocal teachers and ensemble opportunities which you can access outside school.

Also although music is a wonderful thing (and plays a big part in my life) and I studied it to the highest level, to be honest in terms of a career path it’s not great!! Only a small proportion make a decent living though playing alone, most people have to teach and earn not a very high wage.

Of course it’s difficult now if he’s disappointed and desperate to go but in retrospect perhaps it wasn’t wise to go down this path not knowing if it was affordable.

I have a friend whose dd is very musical. She attends the local state school but since the age of 11 has been studying at the Guildhall on Saturdays. It's a big commitment as it involves a 2 hour train journey to get to London but she has thrived.

She's now in 6th form and applying to conservatoires to study. It's been much cheaper than a private school would have been plus she has been taught by amazing musicians.

Is that a possibility for your son? There are presumably similar music schools in other areas of the country?

Andrew Lloyd Webber has a charity, but it does not fund individuals any more, so I'd scrub that one from your list (I made an enquiry if it a little while back) It wouid be a good option if you were seeking funding for a group project.

Basically, the reason there are so few replies with info to secure finding (other than linking the grant givers guide) is because basically there aren't any. There are several which will provide fees until next natural break point for DC already attending when tragedy strikes, such as death of fee payer, and a few which support offspring of certain professions (usually, but not exclusively, clergy). Looking for a local one with broad purposes which helps those within certain area might be the best bet. These are often not narrowly limited by purpose, but will be decided on by committee of local people (sometimes quite infrequently)

The guide is quite expensive btw - worth a visit to a library

Where do you see your son heading after school and uni?
What does he want to do?

OP people are assuming, based on your posts, that it is purely the musical opportunities that you want for him at this school. If that's the case, then of course the advice on alternative musical routes is valuable.

But a really good school (state or independent) should offer much more than that - and presumably this school does too? If there's a vast difference in the broader education he'd receive there, in terms of academic culture, environment, ambition, compared to your local state option - then of course you will want to press on.

Although some might say that a very average school experience, supplemented with exceptional weekend junior conservatoire teaching could be a decent compromise. (I know a few musicians who teach at junior conservatoire level, and the pupils have an enviable experience that very successfully propels them to the next stage.)

A new variation on the private school children are thick tripe

My eldest would be by far the brightest in our local private boys school (he knows a lot of the boys from sports)

Good grief, why do people think it’s acceota to post like this?

Have you gone back to the school OP and tried to negotiate? I have two friends who have done this with scholarships, one for an Eton group (so not desperate for pupils) and another was a bursary for a London day school.

Extras, I am sure you have looked in to all that. My dc at state schools had way more extras and expensive trips than the one at private. I spent about £500 on uniform over six years for him.

Good luck, it sounds an amazing opportunity.

Obviously the music would be amazing at this school but also the education.
As mentioned before the local state school we are in catchment for is awful. Again as I said before my son knew if we tried this route the funding would have to be sorted so he was aware of this. I was totally upfront and honest with him. I’m not ready to give up yet.

Have you considered somewhere like Christ’s?

DS is at a fantastic school, as a music scholar and on a bursary.
For us, there is no comparison between the music provision at the local " excellent" state school and this school. There are ensembles of every sort on offer, opportunities to play in regular concerts, and the standard of playing is very high. He also plays in the county youth orchestra.
We live too far from the London music colleges for him to attend as a junior.
Apart from the musical opportunities, the school offers loads of other extra curricular things, as well as excellent teaching and pastoral care.
We pay for the school bus and lunches, but everything else is free or optional. Yes, they run a ski trip, MFL exchange etc but there is no pressure to partake, and certainly not to the tune of £4k!

For us, it's been life changing and not something that could have been provided by sending him to the local company and buying in the extras. That said, if we could have sent him to a London music college junior department, that might have been a different matter.

I really hope you find a way of making up the shortfall, OP.

Don''t forget that school fees go up every year
My dd is doing gcses this year, in the 5 years she has been there it has gone from £15k to £18300, up to £19k next year...

Are there any jobs going at the school which you could apply for? They will likely offer staff discount. I get 50%.

Large staff discounts may have restrictions - commonly teaching staff /seniors rmanagement only, and eligible after 2yrs employment

Different kettle of fish but somebody where I work, had to work evenings and weekend shifts at a different job which covered her child's private school fees and she worked at her day time job (where I work) to cover bills etc. as did her husband. So you may have to ultimately do that if you want to be able to afford to pay whatever you have to pay.

tricky one OP - people are genuinely trying to help you but you seem to be batting all the suggestions away.

If you looked at lots of private schools, some with better bursary provision then realistically you should have gone for one of those. To let your son fall in love with a school you can't afford was an odd choice.

There is no miracle grant which will subsidise school fees in the way you want. If you can't take up any of the options to find the extra £2-3k per year then really it's time to make your peace with the local option and look into Saturday music school options. If he does well over the next 5 years then you can go ahead and apply for a sixth form scholarship/bursary place?

It tends to be a lot easier to earn more money than root around for grants etc.

We both worked full time (our 3 sons won and took up music scholarships by the way at fee paying schools).
We also both at times had weekend jobs/work - one of us could look after the chilren on Sat and the other on Sunday and sometimes we even had a Sunday morning babysitter too if we were both working. Could you two do something like that?

How about Awards for Young Musicians? Which part of the country are you in?

Andrew Lloyd Webber gave some of his money for a 6th form Eton scholarship didn't he?

And Saturday conservatoire costs more than £2,000 to £3,000 a year, if I recall ... they do have means tested awards though.