Grants for school fees

Rikki

My sons friend is sponcered by a charity his Mum works for. No more info I'm afraid.

You must remember it isn't just the fees you have to pay for it is all the extras too. You have to pay for their GCSE's and A levels too.

Talk to the Burser they are normally very helpful.

Savvy_Sue

Back in the Dark Ages, I think me and all my siblings got a small grant from some London charity. And we weren't all at private school - actually none of us were but some of us were at boarding school.

Some of the old livery companies may give grants, especially to the children of parents who were / are employed in that profession. Then I was at a school which had funds available for pupils from a particular town, and RAF pupils - daughters of those who'd served / were serving in the RAF.

All of which is fascinating without necessarily being helpful. So here's the gem: see if your local Voluntary Services Council has the FunderFinder package, and if they do ask if an individual can book a session to see if there is help available for educating an individual child. It's basically a computer program: you say what you want money for, it asks questions about who and what and where the money's for, and it produces a list of possible places to apply. Usually someone helps you answer the questions right so that you only get a limited number of places to apply.

Although my first step would always be to ask the school about other places you might apply for help. They should be aware of any local sources, at least, and they may have extra scholarships for music, maths, art etc.

HappySad

Do you know of any grants that you can get for private school?

I have just found that I can get the a year of nursery grant awarded for his first year of private school.

Are there any grants on offer if the parents are disabled?

This thread isnt for a debate on private vs state education. I'm happy to debate that elsewhere, but the decision has been made which is in the best interests of the child involved.

vikingaero

First port of call would be to ask the school. There are many private schools where former pupils/alumni have made bequests or bursaries to benefit talented pupils or the disadvantaged.

But ultimately you will be paying for private education out of taxed income.

HappySad

I have asked the school but they do not have any more funds available.

fluffymuffy

I think if there were grants available to the general public to send children to private schools then we'd all do that! Most private schools have scholarships which pay a percentage of the fees of those who win them. Typically it's a low percentage (less than £30%) and the competition is high - for a music scholarship there's often a handful of children with grade 6/7/8 on their instrument (aged 10) and only one gets the scholarship. Our local private school also requires all pupils to pass the 11+ and even that doesn't guarantee a place.

We looked into this and found the biggest downer was that once the child is in the school their performance is monitored and the school draws a line down the class - those below average get extra help - for which you pay extra. Those are not even struggling pupils - just everyone below the average mark.

Sigur_2

All private schools should have scholarships and such available if they wish to keep their "charity" status.

fluffymuffy

Sigur wrote: »

All private schools should have scholarships and such available if they wish to keep their "charity" status.

Yes - but it's a scam - they don't fully pay anyone's place anymore. Not the ones round here, anyway.

Sigur_2

Why would they pay it all? Free education is available, private schooling is a luxury.

fluffymuffy

I kinda thought that some time in the distance past there might have been a handful of totally free places for the very clever poor children? I can see that this would have been a way of justifying the tax-free charity staus?