Bursary waitlist for 11+

[Reach4stars]

I applied to some very highly selective/competitive secondary independent schools in London for my daughter (City of London Girls, St Paul's, JAGS), and also applied to a non-selective independent school. I definitely need financial assistance if she were to go to any of these schools. We have received acceptances from all the schools we applied to, but only the non-selective school has offered a 95% bursary. All the other schools acknowledge that I need financial assistance, but have said there aren't enough funds available this year, except one who has waitlisted us for a 75% bursary. So the rest have all said they're happy to accept my daughter if we pay.

Q1. If I raise the funds this year by remortgaging my home ( I think I'd only get enough to cover <1 year of fees) and get my daughter in to the most selective school, could they review my financial position from next year onwards if I reapplied for a bursary once in the school?
Q2. Has anyone ever been on a bursary waiting list, and how likely is it that you would get a bursary?

Please any advice/experience would be most welcome. I'm sure someone will have been in this situation before. I'd like her to attend a selective school as she's really bright and these schools would keep her challenged.

Q1. If I raise the funds this year by remortgaging my home ( I think I'd only get enough to cover <1 year of fees) and get my daughter in to the most selective school, could they review my financial position from next year onwards if I reapplied for a bursary once in the school?

That is rather a big gamble!

What’s the non-selective school you have a 95% bursary offer from like?

It's a relatively small school, max 25 kids in the year, and with fewer facilities, particularly sports, but known for taking in children who didn't get offers from their choice schools...
I'd say nurturing though...

Have you applied for a state school too? If your dd is bright enough to get an offer from St Paul's then I would have thought she would be fine on the grammar route too if you applied.

I doubt they wound review for a bursary once your dd is there unless your circumstances changed significant,y and she was at a crucial point of education ie. You fell ill during year 10/11. If there is a year 9 entry point maybe she could reapply. Is 75% enough if you were to get an offer from wl?

Remortgaging your home to pay one years fees, with no plan for the next SIX years is unthinkably ridiculous. Please please do not do this!!

It's a relatively small school, max 25 kids in the year, and with fewer facilities, particularly sports, but known for taking in children who didn't get offers from their choice schools...

That is tiny. Which school is it? I’d be wondering what their options for GCSEs subjects were like?

I’d be looking at state school. Did she do the 11+ in any of your local grammars?

Re. Q1, they might possibly review but the chances of going from no bursary to almost a full bursary after one year are remote. If you can only cover a single year's fees by remortgaging your home, I don't think you can afford private school, apart from the one that's offered the 95% but that doesn't sound like the kind of place you're seeking to push your DD and it could be at risk of closing anyway unless they have huge reserves. These places are businesses after all and need some parents to pay the fees. Bright kids do well in state secondaries too and get other benefits. Of course there can be advantages to private, but if you can't afford private, that's not really relevant. In your situation I'd hold out for the 75% waitlist for this year on the slim chance it happens, go for the 95% place if you're deadset on private, or sack it off and go for state, assuming you applied for some.

The financial situation in Independent schools is not going to get any better any time soon. They are facing massive increases in their contribution to the Teachers' Pension Scheme and they will have to find a way to absorb some of the 20% VAT if they don't want to pass the whole lot on to parents.

Do not gamble on a bursary becoming available anywhere that has already said they don't have the funds.

I strongly advise that you don't attempt to pay fees yourself for a year and hope for a bursary from y8. Each school will of course have their own policy but I would expect most to specifically exclude this kind of gaming of the system. There will be some funds for bursaries for existing students but those will be tied down to a limited set of scenarios eg death, redundancy or employment-incompatible illness of a parent - unpredictable changes of circumstances where a family who would have reasonably expected to afford the fees until age 18 suddenly find they no longer can. In your circumstances your situation after a year is entirely predictable so you wouldn't qualify.

The 95% offer is a good one. I would accept that in your circumstances. The other schools will have more than 10 very bright and eligible potential students who need bursary support for every bursary place they can offer and statistically speaking the odds of getting one from a wait list are too low to take the risk.

Kindly, you can't afford private education.

Can you tell us the name of the nonselective school? 95% is a very good deal, would want to tell other parents to tell their bright kids to apply next year

If the 95% school is non-selective, how does it actually meet your aim of wanting a highly selective/competitive environment to challenge her? A decent state would have lots more bright kids in her cohort and better choice of subjects at gcse etc than a non selective with only 25 kids per year where the main selling point is pastoral.

Thank you for providing a more sensible way of viewing this scenario! Appreciate this!

(Repeating from elsewhere.)

Do not do this. Schools take an extremely dim view of parents who attempt to game the system by deliberately joining a school in full knowledge that they cannot pay the fees going forward. Bursaries offered while a child is already at a school are intended to cover urgent, unexpected changes in financial fortune. In the situation you suggest, attempting to bounce them into awarding a bursary after one year is likely to lead to their suggesting you find another school.

Clearly the non-selective school is hoping your daughter will improve their exam grades - though I’d be surprised if one pupil’s results would completely change the academic profile of a school. (Perhaps they’re using this method to attract several potentially high achieving children?)

But the 95% school sounds too small to offer the kind of experience one wants from an independent school - in terms of sports and orchestras and drama and a broad range of fellow pupils.

@aliatalia2 - I’m amazed you think the OP should share such information - when her thread might be recognisable to the school.

It's not disparaging the school or identifying herself, so I don't know what's your problem

Your daughter is clearly a very clever girl. I would not accept the place for her at the non-selective. 25 in a year group is tiny and they will not be able to offer the academic stretch your daughter needs or extracurricular. Send her to your local state school and she will do fine. I shelled out a fortune on private education and one of my children would have done just as well academically had she gone to local state, with probably better chance of Oxbridge offer as she wouldn’t have been seen as coming from privileged background. Other child is a different case due to autism, etc so money spent for small class sizes and great pastoral care was worth it in that case.

with probably better chance of Oxbridge offer as she wouldn’t have been seen as coming from privileged background

Pretty sure university admissions people are capable of understanding that a candidate who attended an independent school on a huge bursary probably doesn’t come from wealth , and may have faced challenges others at their school might not.

I'm a bit confused by your original post. SPGS are very clear that they've never turned away a pupil on financial grounds and there is no bursary "waitlist". If a girl passes the exams / interviews and needs financial assistance - and the parents qualify - the student will get it. So if your DD got a place at SPGS and no bursary it means you were over the financial threshold / didn't qualify for a bursary.

If you want a selective school, I absolutely wouldn’t send them to a non-selective school with only 25 max to a year group! What is the range of subjects on offer? What is the teaching like at GCSE. My DS at grammar did 13 GCSEs including further maths-are they really in a financial position to be running some GCSE options for only 2 or 3 pupils?! I can’t imagine that would be viable for long!

I’m afraid it’s true that a tiny school offering huge bursaries is often the last gasp before the institution collapses. I remember more than one MN parent has been bitten that way - posting in panic when they get an email saying the school will be closing for good within weeks and they need to find somewhere else for their child.

Be wary, @Reach4stars …

Take the 95% one now and be very very grateful for it.

You won't get a nursery once you're already in.

Is there some question mark over your family income or assets as I’m another one that doesn’t recognise your statement that she qualifies for a bursery at St Paul’s but is on a waiting list. Did she also sit the entrance exams for state schools such as Tiffins and Henrietta Barnett?

I’m another one that doesn’t recognise your statement that she qualifies for a bursery at St Paul’s but is on a waiting list.

Surely that means they only have x many bursaries and someone who scored higher on a similar (or lower) income was made an offer? It doesn't necessarily mean the OP has a moderate income.

No, that's not how bursaries at SPGS work. As I said before, the school is clear that nobody has ever been denied a place on financial grounds. You either qualify for a bursary or you don't. If your child gets an offer, and you qualify for a bursary, you'll get one.

Thank you for helping me see the wood for the trees - I agree this is really sensible and pragmatic advice and I appreciate it. Needed to hear down to earth advice instead of grandiose thinking. Thanks again!