music scholarship in independent school

[midod]

Has anyone had success with music scholarships at Highgate, UCS, Forest School? What sort of chances would a child with Grade 8 piano and Grade 6 woodwind (self-taught) have?

Which woodwind? generally the rarer the instrument, the better the chances for a scholarship. Piano is pretty standard.

Are you saying grade results or self assessing their level? If results what were they? Can they sing too? Are they studying music theory?

How old is the child? A grade 8 at 11 and at 16 would feel quite different.

at 11+, a fair chance though far from guaranteed, assuming the woodwind is an orchestral instrument and not recorder. Prioritise the orchestral instrument and get some professional lessons ASAP - the music dept will want to attract students who will contribute to the strength of ensemble/orchestra playing in the school - piano and recorder don't cut it. Rarer instruments are more attractive to the school on that basis, so bassoon, oboe, cor anglais skew the odds in favour more than flute or clarinet, To my knowledge the music scholars at one of (the stronger of) those schools were mostly going to Saturday conservatoires and playing grade 7+ repertoire on an orchestral instrument on entry to year 7, and there was at least one child playing at that level who I don't think had a (music) scholarship, though that may have been an unusually strong year group. Highgate and UCS are likely to be a much tougher prospect than Forest.

Bear in mind that scholarships are considered an honour conferred by the school and don’t always amount to much. GD has an art scholarship and it is 10% of the fees. Another GD had a similar scholarship at another school and was awarded £300 and a sweatshirt.

10years old child . passed grade 8 and grade5 when she were 8

Only a pass isn’t good for this - retake and aim for high distinction

Pass, merit or distinction? for a scholarship merit is the absolute minimum, many will have distinctions

I would reconsider. It puts a lot of pressure on the child. They have to do a lot of music in return for the scholarship and have to maintain it all or they lose it. This is not a recipe for loving music.