Independent Catholic Boarding & Day School - Rye St Antony School Oxford UK

BURSARIES POLICY

General
The Governing Body recognises the requirement to give access to the school by offering to eligible families means-tested financial support towards the payment of school fees. Such support is known as a bursary. A bursary may vary in value from 0.5 % to 100% tuition fees, depending on the financial, compassionate or other pertinent circumstances of applicants. Governors are keenly aware that the school is dependent upon fee income and that financial help given to any one pupil comes at a cost to the families of others.

Bursary awards are subject to repeat testing of parental means each year and may be varied upwards or downwards, depending on parental circumstances. Awards are made on the basis of the school’s Scale of Awards, a scale which sets out levels in relation to parental financial circumstances. The Scale of Awards is reviewed and revised annually by the Bursaries Committee ready for presentation to the Governing Body at its Hilary Term meeting each year. Though awards are generally tied to this scale, they may be varied upwards or downwards depending on individual parental circumstances (for example, savings investments and realisable assets, income, size of family, other persons dependent, like factors) and compassionate or other pertinent considerations.

Requests for financial support usually fall into two categories:

• external applicants whose parents are unable to fund school fees

• internal applicants for whom a change in parental circumstances has resulted in difficulty in meeting school fees and a possible need for the pupil to be withdrawn part-way through a stage of education

External Applicants

Awareness
Information provided by the school alerting parents of prospective pupils to the possibility of gaining means-tested financial support for the payment of school fees is publicised by means of:

• School Prospectus
• Parent and Pupil Handbook, Dates and Information
• School Website
• Press (local and national) advertisements

Application Process
Bursaries are awarded at the discretion of the Governing Body, and the Head and Bursar are responsible for the management and co-ordination of the process.

• Step One Parents applying for a bursary are required to complete a Confidential Statement of Financial Circumstances which seeks to establish the financial circumstances of the household. The completed form, accompanied by full documentary evidence, should be submitted to the Bursar by 10 January in any year for which a bursary is required starting in September. No application will be formally considered until this form has been presented
• Step Two The Bursar assesses all applications in order to establish the likely level of support which will be required in order to allow the pupil to attend the school. This assessment may involve the Bursar, or a representative, visiting the parents’ home to ensure that information has been correctly interpreted and that the basis of the financial assessment has been fair.
• Step Three The Bursar prepares a recommendation in accordance with the Scale of Awards for consideration with the Head so that a joint recommendation can then be presented to the Governing Body.
• Step Four The joint recommendation is presented to the Governors’ Bursaries Committee for consideration at its Hilary Term meeting.
• Step Five Parents are notified of the outcome of the bursary application.
• Step Six Parents are required to sign a letter accepting the bursary and an acknowledgement agreeing to any conditions relating to it.

The Case for Assistance
The Head and Bursar consider a number of factors when making a judgement as to the justification for support and the extent of such support. In the main, the pupil’s suitability for the school is the first consideration in granting support.

• Suitability In assessing a pupil’s suitability, attention is given to the academic assessment result of each applicant, and potential will also be considered as well as actual achievement. Bursaries are limited, and those judged most suitable will be given priority as those likely to gain the most from the educational provision. Each pupil to whom support is offered must, in the opinion of the Head, be likely to make sound academic progress following admission and possess the potential to develop the quality of his or her work and benefit from participation in the wider extra-curricular activities of the school. In normal circumstances, each applicant should meet the school’s normal academic requirements. Previous school reports will be taken into account in relation to evidence of academic, personal and social development.

• Financial Limitations The amount of the bursary award is not influenced by the level of the academic ability of the pupil but by the extent of need. Each case is assessed on its own merits, and awards are made accordingly, subject to the school’s ability to fund these awards within the context of what is viable in the school’s overall budget. It is recognised that, concerning sacrifices which a family should make to pay school fees, judgements will be personal, but the school recognises its duty to ensure that all bursary grants are well focused and so, as well as current earnings, other factors which will be considered in determining the necessary level of grant will include:

• the ability to improve the financial position or earning power of the family: for example, where there are two partners, both would be expected to be employed unless one were prevented from doing so through incapacity, the need to care for children under school age, the need to care for other dependents, or the requirements of the partner’s work
• opportunities to release any capital: significant capital savings and investments would be expected to be used for the payment of school fees, as would equity values in houses
• in cases of separation, the contribution made by the absent parent
• contribution to household costs by other family members or adults unrelated to the child, or outside sources
• where fees are being paid to other schools (or universities), the school’s grant will take outgoings into account
• acknowledging that others might have a different view, the school considers the following would not be consistent with the receipt of the bursary:
o frequent or expensive holidays
o new or luxury cars
o investment in significant home improvements
o a second property and/or land holdings

Other Factors

It is recognised that, in addition to academic ability and financial constraints, there may be other circumstances which should be considered. These include, but are not limited to:

• where a pupil has siblings at the school
• where the social needs of the pupil are relevant
• where a parent is terminally ill or is unable to secure permanent employment as the result of poor health
• where a separation would result in the pupil having to be withdrawn from the school, the withdrawal adding to the stress of coping with the separation of the parents

Internal Applicants

Change in Family Circumstances
Within overall budget funding, the school will in normal circumstances set aside each year a Hardship Fund, for cases of sudden, unforeseen need or where applications meriting the assistance of a bursary are received out of the normal calendar cycle for bursary submission, scrutiny and award. The annual Hardship Fund will be set within budgetary constraints. A pupil’s parents whose financial circumstances suddenly change may apply for a bursary to the Head or Bursar explaining the situation and completing a Confidential Statement of Financial Circumstances. No application will be formally considered until this statement has been presented. Any award from the Hardship Fund is subject to the availability for funding and cannot be guaranteed.

Annual Review
All bursary awards are subject to repeat testing of parental means each year and may be varied upward or downwards depending on parental circumstances. Current bursary holders are issued with repeat means-testing forms at the beginning of January each year for return by the end of the month. For those previously in receipt of bursaries, the Head and Bursar, in making their joint recommendation to the Governors’ Bursaries Committee have the discretion to recommend to the Governing Body the reduction or withdrawal of an award, not only when a pupil’s progress, attitude or behaviour has been unsatisfactory, but also when a parent has failed to support the school, for example by the late payment of the parent’s contribution to the fees.

Confidentiality
The school respects the confidentiality of bursary awards made to families, and recipients are expected to do likewise.

Other Sources of Assistance
In addition to the school’s bursary fund, there are a number of funds administered by educational and charitable trusts which provide assistance with school fees. In the majority of cases, these are designated for the assistance of pupils who are already attending a fee-paying school at which they are unable to remain because of a change of parental circumstances. Parents are encouraged to apply for support if it is felt that a good case can be made for assistance. Further information is available from the Bursar and also from the Educational Trusts Forum and the Joint Educational Trust (6 Lovat Lane, London EC3R 8DT; admin@jetcharity.org; www. jetcharity.org).

This policy on the award of bursaries takes account of the requirements of the Charities Commission, and the policy is kept under annual review.