are there any private schools in london offering full scholarships?

[hotHELL]

making enquiries for sister's ds who is 9... and apparently bright.

oops, sorry thought somebody would already know, i am being lazy, my sister cannot do it, is an invalid and doesnt' have access to the net. will have a look

Easiest way would be to join the Good Schools Guide online and search for London

he can get a 100% bursery at different schools if he is bright but not have enough money for fees

Does she want boarding or day?

ohhh, thank you, day, i should think.
they are basically on income support/invalidity benefit, and likely to stay like this forever, so no way they could afford fees, definetely extremely bright kid.

There is another way, I wish I could recall it instantly ... will do some searching. In the meantime - what I will be searching for is that, a few months back, there was a print ad in something like the Evening Standard, which was jointly inserted by a whole bunch of independent secondary schools saying "Please be aware that the schools listed here offer help with fees".

It gave a dedicated website address for people wanting exactly the information you're after. So that's what I will try & find.

IMHO the best idea is to choose a collection of schools in the area she lives and loook them up on their websites

Here is the bursery page for St Pauls school which is one for him if he is very bright

www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/page.aspx?id=8301

Where does she live?

North South East West London

Is she happy for him to travel on the tube or train when he gets to 11?

Actually he would go to Colet Court, the prep school until he is 13 but he can go there @ 10 and 11 after passing exams in english, maths and VR iirc

potentially (sp?) free is Christ's Hospital in Horsham (near surrey) but it is boarding?

I've done some searching and I'm afraid I can't track down the thing I saw.

I am pretty sure however that the reason that ad was in there was to demonstrate the advertisers' compliance w/ shift in charitable status guidelines - shift being that schools with educational charity status are going to have to provide better proof of their social accessibility - which of course means providing fees support for lower-income families.

An incidental effect seems to be that ability will be less important than family circumstances - ie, schools may choose to phase out scholarships (which are academic) & doing bursaries (which depend on financial need) instead. But either way it looks good for your sister's ds.

I hesitate to point out that ahem alternatively they could explore the free options that appear to cater for quite a lot of bright kids quite adequately...

The independent schools council website (which I thought would be a good starting point) says that details of individual scholarships would be on school websites - it doesn't refer to a central database. But you can search for nearby schools here

www.isc.co.uk/ParentZone_SEARCHFORANISCSCHOOL.htm

Depending on where he is (and especially if near the London/Home County borders) then actually the grammar schools tend to be more competitive (and are free). If money is very tight then tbh I would look at a grammar school as the issue of funds for extras will be dealt with more senstively.

Here are the bursary details for two of the Day schools here in South London - a family on income of £10k (after deducting £1k per other dependant children) would have fees of £60 per year, though scholarships of up to 50% would reduce this to £30 per year. But uniform, trips and extras such as music lessons/clubs would be cheaper at Wilsons and Wallington Grammar schools in Sutton say.

I think you also have to bear in mind what it would be like to be from a family with very limited means amongst peers most of whom will be very comfortable off. It was one of the main reasons I ruled out scholarship to my local independent schools and looked at Christ's Hospital instead and I only looked at options because my local school is at the bottom of the league table!

Bink,
I saw that advert too - it included schools like Dulwich College and Alleyn's, amongst others. If you are anywhere near Croydon the Whitgift foundation can afford substantial bursaries to Whitgift and Trinity schools.

Eton College also have a scheme specifically for boys at state schools.

MI - I had assumed that this was an "explore all the options" related request

They are in Highgate, and yep, they would look also at grammar schools, in fact i think that might be better for them, not sure how a child from a poor background living in 1 bed council flat would fare socially in a private school, but we do want to explore all the options for my nephew and help him out. Many thanks.

Couldn't help laughing at idea of dn going to Eton. No way!!!! We are really not that sort of people, lol.

For the lowdown on Grammar schools (and an insight into the neuroticism of some parents) see this website.

Poor old Eton, you cruel thing!

Highgate School, University College School, City of London School, Haberdasher's all offer 100% means-tested bursaries. Entrance to all these is selective but a definite option if dn is bright. Other possibilities in that area are Latymer and Queen Elizabeth, both grammar schools so 100% free!

Eton? Would rather saw my arm off with a rusty penknife than send my son there.

thank you, thank you!

I have been searching for my ds, westminster under school offer bursaries that are income related and scholarships at 11, so do Kings College school, Whitgift do them at 10 and 11, St Paul's, Eton do lots, there are so many I'm spolit for choice. All of the private ones do alot of sport though, my ds is g&t but not quite a team player. You have to find the right school for him, some are more academic then others. It's really hard. Most of them do them (except for my ds' prep school .

An interesting re-invigoration of an ancient thread.
I wonder what happened to the child in question, who will be about 22 now...