Sports Schlorship at 11 plus

[bstrong0805]

Hi ! Looking for where to start on schools that provide sports scholarships at 11 plus. DS plays national level tennis and table tennis, plays county cricket and also plays a high level of chess. I would really like to find a school for him that recognizes and build his talent in sport but also has a good academic standard. He is at a selective private school now but they aren’t committing anything on scholarship to me for senior school so I want to look at other school options that would be more willing to offer something ! I don’t know where to start though.. any suggestions ? What kind of schools, when do they open applications, what % support do you get? Would love some support

His coaches might know about options. Good luck.

Is your priority about getting your child the academic experience that you couldn't otherwise afford, and using their sporting prowess to access that, or is it more about accessing an educational context which will support sporting endeavor at an elite level?

If you look at the information published by Clifton College for example at https://issuu.com/cliftoncollegeuk/docs/scholarships_2025-26 there's a lot of detail about the performance sports programme that Sports Scholarship holders can access, and the additional training and facilities they will have access to compared to an ordinary school. However, the Scholarship itself is an honourary status which has no financial element. At a lot of schools, all kinds of scholarships whether for Music, or Arts, or Academic as well as Sports, they will either have no financial element or will be limited to a token discount e.g. 5% or 10% off the fees. They have a separate programme of Means Tested bursaries - although for some schools you can only apply for the Bursary programme if you have already been offered a Scholarship - where you have to make full disclosure of all your financial circumstances and you may be offered a % reduction on that basis. However, the magnititude of the bursary is not linked to the child's prowess at the sport - a school might give 5 sports scholarships and the strongest and most qualified of those 5 children might get less of a monetary award than the least of them, if the least of them is from a family with fewer resources.