Scholarships for Private Independent Schools

A scholarship is a means of financial assistance provided by another body or institution so that your child can pursue a line of education that may not be available to them under normal circumstances.

At the present time in the United Kingdom more than a fifth of all pupils at independent schools get some form of financial assistance with fees. Scholarships are generally awarded to pupils for academic, musical or artistic merit and normally do not take financial need into account.

A scholarship can be awarded to any pupil based entirely on their performance within a particular subject or field of education and irrespective of background, class or financial stability.

How Scholarships Are Awarded

Scholarships are awarded normally, as we have already touched on, to those pupils who show exceptional talent and/or intelligence in a particular area. This may be music or the arts or literature or indeed sport and, as such, there needs to be a financial input to enable these pupils to pursue further qualifications in these fields at private independent school level.

In order to do this, private independent schools will hold examinations based upon a shortlist of pupils gleaned from the mainstream school system and as a result a shorter list of prospective and talented pupils may be drawn up.

A further examination and interview may be held to further quantify the pupil’s interest and indeed willingness to pursue the obtaining of a scholarship.

If the scholarship is awarded it amounts to a maximum of 50% of the school fees that may be required during the course of a pupil’s education at private independent school. This will take into account board and lodgings should the school be outside the catchment area to such a degree that the pupil might need to reside there during term time.

There will also be such things as uniforms, textbooks, any sporting equipment, musical instruments or indeed any other item that falls outside the normal remit of an educational standard.

However, as a scholarship amounts to only 50% of the fees at a private independent school it may be necessary to seek a bursary if the pupil’s parents are not in a position financially to cover the shortfall between the amount granted in a scholarship and the overall amount of the fees incurred.

A bursary is an amount of money granted to make up the shortfall and is only granted after a series of means tests are carried out to ensure that a pupil’s parents are not in a position to make up the difference.

Although your child may be of a high intellect and of a high educational standard there is still no guarantee that a scholarship or bursary will be awarded. These are means tested and also granted on a limited number of places per year.

It is worthwhile mentioning that having looked at a varied number of private independent schools there is a generally accepted criterion across the board.

In saying this priority is given to the pupils of parents who are members of the clergy, members of the Armed Forces (both serving and non serving), teachers, and also to the children of former school pupils who have applied for scholarships at their chosen school.

That said do not let it put you off attempting to help your child gain a scholarship they have as much chance as anyone given the right exam results and the right advice.

As always with trying to place your child in any school it is important to understand the criteria laid down and also given the chance, inspect the school and speak with teachers and pupils alike for a more balanced view of how things operate.

As with all schools private or otherwise there will be a parent teacher association and as always this a good place to start if you are looking for an unbiased and realistic appraisal of your child’s chances.