59th National Mathematics Summer School 7 May 2022 at 8:30AM edited 7 May 2022 at 9:06AM in MoneySaving mums 18 replies 542 views

CornishWildFlower

Hi all,

My 16 year old son has been invited to attend the above, apparently he landed in the top 1.5% nationally for maths having completed the intermediate challenge.  Only one person is selected from a small group of schools nationally, so both we and his school are really surprised and excited. The school has never had anyone selected, I knew he was good at maths but he's a typical 16 year old lad more interested in his PS4 than work, so we were all taken by surprise!

Really keen for him to go, particularly as he will be taking maths in college and after all the interruptions to kids education through lockdowns etc, I'd love for him to flourish. However, although it's residential, it's in Leeds which might as well be a million miles from Cornwall.

Having looked at flights, trains etc. they're all extortionate and involve many changes. The only cost effective way to travel is 15 hours each way on a National Express coach so I thought that perhaps I could drive him (worried about him being alone so far away too) but...

I can't actually afford it with the price of fuel etc added to the cost of the summer school (already heavily subsidised) it's a nightmare but I really don't want him to miss out. Are there any grants that I could apply for, either from the government or privately?

I could borrow or put it on a credit card but struggling as it is to keep on top of everything, and I have two other kids to consider as well.

Any ideas gratefully received 👍

 

MovingForwards

Have you asked the existing school if there's any funds / grants available?

Kat78MFW

Congratulations to your son on his amazing achievement. Could you drive him to Exeter so he can get a direct train (5.5hrs) up to Leeds? A student railcard costs £30 and would save him 1/3 of the cost of the ticket.
Have you seen on the website for the summer school there is a form to apply for financial assistance, including travel (scroll to the bottom of the page https://www.ukmt.org.uk/enrichment/summer-schools.
I'm just having a look for you at split ticketing to try to get the cost of the rail tickets down further.
Maybe if you don't qualify for travel assistance from the UKMT, you could set up a gofundme page or your son could do some fundraising (washing cars, mowing lawns etc) or get a part time job to raise the money.
I really hope you manage to get the funding for him to go.

Kat78MFW

Just found out that a 16-17 saver railcard also costs £30 but saves 50% on tickets.

CornishWildFlower

His school did say something to him about maybe helping with the cost of it, but as it only happened yesterday I haven't actually spoken to them directly other than receiving the invitation via email.

As ridiculous as it might sound, I shrink from asking them, it's a very wealthy neighbourhood and not many working class families like us, so I don't want to be seen as having the begging bowl out (as it were)

Kat78MFW

It looks like split ticketing only saves £3 so probably not worth the extra hassle of more tickets (if you wanted to do it, you would buy a return Exeter to Bristol Temple Meads and then another return Bristol Temple Meads to Leeds). 
The best single ticket I can find is off-peak anytime return Exeter to Leeds £83.95 with 16-17 saver railcard (so £113.95 including the railcard price).
Fingers crossed that UKMT will fund the travel for him. 

Misslayed

You may well find that the school offers support of some kind, as you say they are also surprised and excited that one of their pupils has been selected, as it reflects very well on their teaching and they'll be keen to make sure he doesn't miss out. 

Misslayed

PS Congratulations!  

CornishWildFlower

Kat78MFW said:

Congratulations to your son on his amazing achievement. Could you drive him to Exeter so he can get a direct train (5.5hrs) up to Leeds? A student railcard costs £30 and would save him 1/3 of the cost of the ticket.
Have you seen on the website for the summer school there is a form to apply for financial assistance, including travel (scroll to the bottom of the page https://www.ukmt.org.uk/enrichment/summer-schools.
I'm just having a look for you at split ticketing to try to get the cost of the rail tickets down further.
Maybe if you don't qualify for travel assistance from the UKMT, you could set up a gofundme page or your son could do some fundraising (washing cars, mowing lawns etc) or get a part time job to raise the money.
I really hope you manage to get the funding for him to go.

Thank you so much for looking into it (train websites are an enigma to me) and it is an amazing achievement!  I am really lucky with my kids, whatever they achieve they do so by themselves really, educationally they left me behind a long time ago.

The surprise of it has left me reeling a bit, I'd love to be able to give him a definitive answer but I'm also a little hesitant about letting him travel alone.  This is a VERY rural area, he's spent his life here and has no street smarts for being in a big city whatsoever, perhaps I'm just babying him too much but I'm worried about him as he has his head in the clouds most of the time.

Will apply on the website and see what happens, we've always typically fallen between the cracks, earn too much for FSM etc. but yet struggle with everything. 

I was going to help him with a CV for a summer job anyway so need to crack on with that too and hopefully something will come of it.

CornishWildFlower

Kat78MFW said:

It looks like split ticketing only saves £3 so probably not worth the extra hassle of more tickets (if you wanted to do it, you would buy a return Exeter to Bristol Temple Meads and then another return Bristol Temple Meads to Leeds). 
The best single ticket I can find is off-peak anytime return Exeter to Leeds £83.95 with 16-17 saver railcard (so £113.95 including the railcard price).
Fingers crossed that UKMT will fund the travel for him. 

Brilliant, thanks, will look into it and have a think what to do for the best.

CornishWildFlower

Misslayed said:

PS Congratulations!  

Thanks very much, will have a think over the weekend and see if my pride can take approaching the school.  It might be end up being either that or a sponsorship request to Rishi Sunak, it's all his fault after all....