Scholarships ?

[OHBollox]

My DD is very bright but very immature (august baby and the eldest in our family) and young for her age.
I am terrified she'll get eaten alive at the local schools and need to find a gentle, caring school with great pastral care.
My worry is do those schools offer scholarships ?
She is very arty and we are starting music lessons asap with her, she's intelligent but am not sure she's exceptional.
Is there a way of getting her a scholarship or am I kidding myself here ?

how old is she ? There are scholarships at lower profile independent schools, amount varies but 25% reduction seems typical, but she'd still need to meet the academic standard and have a strong portfolio for art and design to present or have at least 2 instruments, one to about Grade 4 by 11+ entry to qualify. Most schools would give their particular offers and criteria on their website.

She's only 8 at the moment, I'm just well aware these things need planning and preparation.
Would you go and look at all the suitible schools you think would tick the boxes and then ask about scholarships ?
Just new to all this and don't want my lack of knowledge to hinder her.

You'd need to start looking end year 4/5, most schools have open days, as registration would be in Autumn term of Year 6 for 11+. Is she in a private school or state atm, as you'd need to take advice from someone used to the system and its requirements. Starting an instrument now may already be tight timing to reach grade 4 in time. For art it could take a couple of years to get enough suitable work together and even then it is subjective with fewer pure art scholarships offered anyway - being "arty" won't be enough in itself.

So if I went for a less glam, country school in say Wales would that be less competitive and get her in on academic ability I wonder.
I do believe she would be better going for the musical aspect than cramming her for the 11+ exam which I believe she'd pass but not be happy at (however it will do if push comes to shove).
She's at state school at the moment, I took her out of private (exactly the right school for her because we hit hard times a few years back). We can't go back to them but at least I know what i'm looking for.
The art stuff, she could knock up a portfolio of mind blowing stuff before bedtime I would say, if there was anywhere she could get in on that basis we'd be home and dry.

Most girls' schools offer scholarships - academic, drama, music, art, and perhaps sport.

At the school I work at - a non-selective, gentle, caring girls' school with great pastoral care - we offer several scholarships. The drama/music/art ones are by audition/portfolio; the academic scholarships are based on the top performances in the academic assessment tat all prospective pupils sit.

The scholarships range from 10 - 25%, so not a huge chunk of fees. But there are also bursaries available that potentially take the remission up to 100%.

What you need to do is ask the school. They want you to do it. If you don't ask, you don't get.

She'd still have to pass their 11+ exam though, the rest is on top not instead. You need to check out individual schools to get a feel for what would be expected.

Have a look at this very helpful webpage:

www.mydaughter.org.uk/a/pdf/GSASC.pdf

It lists the scholarship and bursary criteria for GSA schools.

It can be worth targeting but e.g. DD was offered a place at selective girls' school but no scholarship. She got a major academic scholarship (24%) at a non-selective co-ed school. But the amount we have to pay in fees is about the same whether we'd sent her to the girls' school at full price or the co-ed discounted.

Overall the co-ed is better all round for us though - a couple of minutes' walk instead of an hour on the bus; optional supervised prep time until 5.30pm and results-wise the academic children do very well and talents for sport, art, drama, music, etc are also recognised and have lots of opportunity to be demonstrated.