Finding the funds

SARAH WOOD Many schools o er sporting scholarships for students with exceptional talents and ability

One of the most common words used to describe the independent school sector is that it’s ‘expensive’.

While it’s certainly true that the fees of the leading boarding schools such as

Eton, Harrow, Wycombe Abbey and Benenden, are in the region of £40,000 a year, this doesn’t necessarily make them unattainable.

Firstly, not every independent school charges fees of this level. e media tends to focus on those charging the highest fees but as with any market, there are a wide range of di erent options available, with fees to suit most budgets, even if with some assistance. e price varies greatly across the country, starting from a few thousand pounds a year, and will depend on whether you want to choose a boarding or day school for your child. A day school will typically charge a lower fee, but it’s worth remembering that the boarding fee includes those ‘hidden costs’ such as food (which we know young people eat a lot of!) and activities.

Secondly, there’s an enormous amount of s

Benenden in Kent has launched a £5m fundraising campaign to triple its full bursary provision

ADAM SCOTT assistance available in the form of bursaries and scholarships. Data from the Independent Schools Council shows that independent schools provided more than £1.1bn of fee assistance in 2021, which is a signi cant sum.

e good news for customers is that the amount of fee assistance available is going to increase, due to political pressure (which is entirely correct) and – believe it or not – a genuine ethical desire from schools to expand the level of support they can o er.

Perhaps inevitably, the topic has become something of a political football in recent years, with the ensuing noise overlooking the simple reality that the vast majority of independent schools are not fabulously wealthy. Most schools are not in Eton’s league and do not have substantial endowments, built up over decades, available to fund bursaries. At most schools, every bursary place has to be paid for through fundraising.

At the top schools, a bursary for the full seven years will cost in the region of £280,000, which demonstrates the challenge that schools face when trying to invest in bursaries. e added complexity is that bursaries require consistent, ongoing investment, unlike for example a development project to construct a new building: the last thing a school wants is for the money to run out midway through a child’s time at the school.

However, schools are trying very hard to expand their support. Benenden in Kent has just launched a £5m fundraising campaign to triple the number of full bursaries it o ers, while Pocklington School in York, is aiming to raise £10m during the next decade and Rugby has set a £50m target by 2030.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS AREN’T FABULOUSLY WEALTHY. Most schools are not in Eton’s league and don’t have substantial endowments, BUILT UP OVER DECADES, AVAILABLE TO FUND BURSARIES

A bursary for a full seven years of school will cost a school somewhere in the region of £280,000

Bursaries will be means-tested, so a school will undertake a nancial assessment which will consider the value of assets held by applicant parents, including assets such as the family home, savings and investments and pension provision, as well as household income and any other dependents. is assessment will dictate the level of reduction o ered, if at all, but your child would also need to achieve a good pass in the school’s entrance exams, as well as ful lling other criteria, which will vary from school to school.

While the level of fee reduction can be as small as ve per cent, it can go all the way up to a full bursary, which in reality means 110 per cent of fees, because it also covers uniform, school trips and other day-to-day costs.

Please bear in mind that this can be a very competitive process; o en lots of families apply for bursaries and schools only have so much money to go around, so don’t be too disappointed if you’re unsuccessful – but equally, there’s nothing to lose by giving it a go. e best thing to do is to look at schools’ websites; the process is very transparent but inevitably varies from school to school. Some are being especially helpful by stating upfront what families can expect; for example, that families with an income above £120,000 are unlikely to qualify for support, while those earning less than £30,000 might be steered towards applying for full bursaries. Again, each school di ers, so do take the time to read what your chosen school, or schools o er.

Scholarships are di erent to bursaries in that they’re awarded based on a student’s this approach and instead inviting scholarship recipients to separately apply for a bursary if they would like. is is because there was concern – not without substance – that the process led to fee reductions for those families who didn’t need them, leaving less money in the bursary pot for those who’d really bene t.

Bursary fee coverage can be as little as five per cent or as much as 110 per cent

achievements in a certain area (whereas a bursary is based purely on family income), such as music, sport, drama or a particular academic subject. e awarding of a scholarship is an honour that includes additional support to help a child excel in that area, which can include one-to-one tuition, specialised training or extension learning projects, designed to stretch high- yers.

Traditionally, scholarship awards o en came with a fee reduction attached, although increasingly schools are moving away from

Scholarships are awarded for achievements in certain subjects or areas, for example, music

It’s widely accepted that the independent sector rose to the challenge during the pandemic, quickly getting remote lessons underway and ensuring no students fell behind in their learning. Many schools successfully juggled the additional challenge of multiple time zones, while some boarding schools stayed open for more than a year straight to help care for overseas students who couldn’t travel home during school holidays.

In addition, most schools o ered parents a rebate or discount on the fees because they couldn’t o er all their usual services, while many set up hardship funds aimed at helping parents whose incomes were a ected by Covid-19. ese funds were invaluable, helping to keep children at school when their parents suddenly found they couldn’t a ord the fees.

While the fees at independent schools are frequently reported as ‘expensive’, hopefully you can now see that within the sector there’s a wide range of schools at di erent price points, as well as an enormous amount of fee assistance available. It’s well worth having a look to see what’s available.

Elizabeth Fairweather shares the story of how she earned a bursary place at Benenden, and how the school helped her build resilience and achieve her dream of studying medicine

When I fi rst visited I was just amazed by the school: its facilities, the teaching, the boarding houses - it all seemed like a dream. It was during my preview (taster) weekend and that was a very enjoyable experience, I got to meet lots of girls and stay overnight which was so lovely - it really felt like a big sleepover. We had an interview as well which was actually quite good fun: they asked some really interesting questions and I felt that it was all about my personality and how I’d fi t in there, not just my academic strengths.

I hadn’t passed my 11-plus (Kent grammar school admissions test) and when I found out I hadn’t passed it was the worst news. Then a few days later we got a letter saying that I’d been accepted at Benenden and I couldn’t contain myself - it was the best news I’d ever had!

GEORGINA EDWARDS

I’d argue that I actually settled in faster than most of the girls who weren’t on a bursary. Maybe that had something to do with living so close or just the fact that I was already quite independent but I settled in really quickly, I would say within two weeks I wasn’t missing home at all. Benenden defi nitely supports the transition, the whole school life is based on an increased level of independence, so you start o quite cared for, you have a big support network around you and then as you progress through the school you’re given more space.

HRH The Princess Royal attended Benenden’s bursary and partnerships campaign launch, Be the Change, in January

I’m now studying a six-year course of medicine which is obviously a really long commitment and I think Benenden really helped me make sure that that’s what I wanted to do. The careers department was so amazing, fi nding me the right course and also the right university. They really put a focus on what’s best for you, what’s best for your personality and where you’d be a great fi t and I would say that they did it perfectly.

It defi nitely built a resilience in me, it put me into situations which weren’t always comfortable but in the best possible way - it helped me learn to understand how to communicate with people and also communicate with people that perhaps you don’t get along best with or you aren’t very similar to. It really puts you in an environment where you have to develop those skills, so that even when you’re applying them in the future, for instance in a medical setting, you’ve really been best prepared.

I think it’s really important for Benenden to have this bursary campaign because I’ve seen how much a bursary can help people. It’s helped me, it helped many of my friends and I can’t begin to imagine how much more it could do if this campaign is successful.