Confused about the Bursary process

[HayleyQ]

Hi parents! I am new here. My DC just had pre-test to an Indie, we submitted Bursary application a few of weeks ago. Now, was told a home visit will take place next week. However, the pre-test results won't come out until early November. Also, DC will have a CE test in next January if DC can pass the pre-test....

I am confused about the process as DC has not been offered a place, but they like to home visit so soon? From my understanding, they won't home visit until DC gets a place? I am just curious IF DC unfortunately didn't pass pre-test(hope this won't happen), what is the point they home visit so early?Anyone can advise? Much appreciated!

They will be doing the home visit as part of the means testing for the bursary, and as they have to do this for every applicant, they can't really wait until,after all the exams (because that would significantly delay the offer, and they do realise parents often apply for more than 1 school, and wildly differing offer dates simply remove the chance to decide between offers because of when deadlines fall)

It's a totally separate process to assessing candidates, but does need to be going on at the same time.

AnotherNewt Thank you! That make sense ! Although we don't know if DC has passed the first test.... Fingers crossed!

So, next step will clean the house during the weekend! A bit stress about Home visit!

Just make sure you replace the Old Masters with a nice Athena print, and put away the family silver!

AnotherNewt Thanks for reminding! I will and have to park our Rolls Royce miles away!

Is it Bursary Admin ltd visiting?
They do check the loft ,so don’t put the Picasso up there.

Only joking 😀

They are very friendly and helpful in talking you through the process.

Good luck!

Teams How did you know our Picasso was hiding in loft?

Is Bursary Admin ltd very popular? Do they decide the amount of the Bursary or they just come and see on behalf of the school and won't give any opinion about how much bursary people will get?

They come to go through the means testing process with you. They might go through the form, asking for proof of some/all entries on it, make sure you haven't omitted anything by mistake (and genuine mistakes are ok, but if something comes to light after you've said it doesn't exist , you're scuppered). And generally to look to see if your circumstances match what you are saying are your means.

So if you are, for example, working part time because you have two pre-schoolers (but will up your hours as they grow), they will expect to have toddlers underfoot.

Then they will process all the bursary forms, producing final figures (based on your income/assets, and what the school counts or disregards, and noting any relevant circumstances) and they do this for every applicant.

After exams, then the bursary committee will meet to go through the applications of the candidates who have passed the exam and interviewed well. They have to consider how much money they have to spend, how many desirable candidates there are, and balance it all out - so if they have means for 5 fully funded places, but 10 preferred candidates of varying means, they might decide to fully fund 10, or fully fund 2 and half fund another 6, or some other permutation depending on level of need.

If they have so many candidates who passed that they cannot possibly even part fund them all, then they will also be looking at what the pupil will bring to the school. Was their academic performance of scholarship level? Do they have sporting, musical or dramatic excellence? Do they have some other notable skill?

Each school does it slightly differently, but it's variants on that basic approach

AnotherNewt You are an expert!

I read somewhere on MN that it'd better talk to school bursar before they offer. I wonder when I should talk to them? The CE test and interview will only happen in January, should I talk to them after the pre test results come out or I shall wait till January after the CE test and interview? However, would it be too late in January?

I'd imagine the comment about talking to the bursar meant speak to them before applying. It's obviously helpful, at the earliest stage, to get a better idea of the school's attitude to bursaries in general and your own circumstances in particular.

Given that you're now much further into the process I'm not sure there would be any benefit in discussing your bursary application with the bursar now. They may feel you've already had a fair opportunity to put your case via the bursary application form and the home visit.

(Well done for getting to this stage, though!)

Just out of interest, why do they do a home check? To make sure your application is correct?

Son goes to a private school and on a slight bursary but we didn't have a home check x

Tiny bursary for day school? Probably not worth the effort of sending someone to fact check your application.

100% bursary for £45,000 boarding school ... Different matter, no?

Persephone Probably I was wrong from the start! I thought DC needed to pass the test first then I was able to talk to school bursar. That was why I was confused about the home visit……… Do I have chance to speak to bursar? is it worth discussing later?

littleeggcup I was told they did the same to every applicant! It may be different for schools?

OP by talking to the home visit person you will be communicating with the bursar - just at a more focused level.

Personally I'd be more concerned about having a new person in the house during a global pandemic ...

Persephone Thank you!
Full PPE prepared!

We have a home visit next week - they say they are not looking at the home itself, or anything within it, in any way. But who knows?

Still tempted to cancel it as it’s stressing me out so much!

Which aspect is causing you stress, NoToMisogyny?

And where are you in the application process?

NoToMisogyny I understand! A bit stress as no such experience before. But I'd 'like to get it done ASAP rather than postpone it if you see what I mean! Good luck to your home visit!

Thanks, good luck to you too Hayley!

Persephone - I’m just stressed about the scrutiny, and whether it was a mad idea to even apply for a bursary. Of course it’s totally fair enough that they investigate so that bursaries go to the most deserving, but having just done my other son’s DLA renewal and having had 12 years of hostile scrutiny from the LA and DWP I just feel like I don’t have any more bandwidth left.

If we don’t get offered a bursary we won’t even sit the exam, as we find out beforehand

Please don’t be put off by the process. It’s nothing to be scared of it’s just going through facts so that they can gauge what you would need in terms of bursary if your son passes the entrance test.

It may feel intrusive but you wouldn’t have applied unless you felt you met the criteria. Remember that your child is just as much deserving as a place as every other child who sits that exam and that’s what this is about - ensuring your child isn’t disadvantaged in the entry process just because of money.

Thank you so much for your lovely, kind post. I guess fundamentally I just feel ridiculously entitled going for something we can’t afford! And there are so many pitfalls - one of them being offered a bursary at a level we still can’t afford. I haven’t been able to bring myself to show my son any of the 3 schools we’ve applied for because I can’t bear the idea of getting his hopes up. I felt I really had to give it a shot for his sake, but sending in the forms re our finances was shattering. I felt so exposed! And poor 😄

fundamentally I just feel ridiculously entitled going for something we can’t afford!

Have you heard of the mathematician G H Hardy? He wrote a memoir/biography called A Mathematician's Apology. I recall handing it to a child on our way to a prep school interview. I highly recommend it - or, at least, the early section where he talks of belonging to the social class that didn't have the money to buy an excellent education, but did possess sufficient knowledge to access the necessary funding to acquire one. (I'm actually mightily impressed with myself for remembering it now, when I haven't thought of him for years.) He lived in a different era of course, but a fair proportion of human history has been shaped by men and women who could never have achieved whatever they did without significant financial assistance towards their education.

Life throws up some ridiculous extremes, doesn't it? It's not hard to imagine just how much the combination of DLA renewal forms and bursary application forms must be hurting your soul. I really wish I could say something that would make you feel better ...

Getting the bursary application out of the way before the entrance exam is novel (to me) but it seems quite helpful. I know with one of our applications a place already offered could be withdrawn by the school if they didn't feel they could offer a sufficient bursary. Which would have been brutal, weeks after the celebratory cake and champagne. Presumably the other two schools you're applying to follow the usual model of exams first?

I'm sure you've read the guidance notes very thoroughly, but perhaps yours don't include a paragraph stating that, in assessing bursary need, the school would consider how an award might benefit the wider family. (In the case of boarding this might be by enabling a parent to work further afield or full time rather than part time, etc.) But it's relevant to set this thought alongside 'feeling poor'. For every misguided MN poster with no knowledge whatsoever (and I've seen a few) who is outraged that 'poor' people might aspire to send their children to the best school possible, there's a bursary administrator somewhere, trying their very best to make a bursary award that will genuinely change a child and a family's life rather than simply decorate their lifestyle.

And it's not just about maintaining their charitable 'status' either. The best schools want to offer bursaries because having a broad intake should improve the ... ecology of the school. By sending your son you would be doing them a favour.

(Hmm, I'm thinking the biographical passage I mentioned might have been in the introduction, written IIRC, by the utterly brilliant C P Snow. That might be why it's lodged in my memory!)

Persephone - your message made me cry. In a good way! It was so incredibly kind and lovely. And just what I needed :-)

I do struggle with feeling ashamed re the whole thing, and then worried about the emotional rollercoaster! At least we only have the one interview to cover all 3 schools. But if it’s a clear no, I hope they let us know at or very soon after the interview, and then we can put the whole idea to bed!

It is hard for other people to appreciate the shattering nature of filling in DLA forms, and fighting the local authority for respite, to try and move my son to a more suitable special school etc. But I’m kind of assuming the accountancy firm will look at nothing but facts and figures.

I just don’t know. I’ll be incredibly glad when it’s over! It’s very strange being in limbo - preparing for exams my son might never take!!

Hope it goes well for your DC OP and @NoToMisogny