We do not qualify for a bursary. However, my son has scored a high score in his 11 plus and has consistently scored the highest or almost highest results in every exam at school. We queried the Head at the Independent school that my son studies at as to what is the maximum scholarship that we could expect. He told us that last year a boy who scored lower than my son in his 11 plus but scored similar results during school exams was offered a scholarship amount that the parents were not allowed to disclose as they signed a confidentiality contract, but effectively in terms of school fees, it would have been no different to going to CHB. He said that a lot depends on the school report written by the school's Head, and that he had said that my son was the best student at that school. I may be wrong, but was he implying that a 100% scholarship is possible (with no bursary)? What is the maximum scholarship that anyone has ever heard of (excluding bursary)? The maximum I've heard of is 50%. Feedback would be very much appreciated.

According to the schools website the maximum scholarship award is 50%.This is the maximum I have ever heard.

I would also make the following remarks.

Just because someone goes to a independent school does not mean they may not be entitled to a bursary.I have seen this happen previously.Individuals can have up to 50% scholarship and up to 50% bursary depending on their means.In other cases up to and including 100% bursary depending on their means.

The range of marks in a 11 plus exam can vary from year to year so the same score in different years may not be an equivalent score.

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Be aware that any offer will almost certainly be 'performance related' and if he fails to perform you will at best be asked to stump up the cash and at worst be left looking for another school. They are a business after all and it would only make sense if they felt they they needed to boost scores. A friend or ours daughter was booted out of a different fee paying school despite doing well (and them paying) because she wasn't deemed a strong enough pupil academically. She ended up getting 3A*s 2As and 4Bs so not exactly shabby.

I'm pretty sure they view themselves as a charitable body, not a business. Can't speak for the boys school but I don't think the girls school takes this approach to academic attainment.

Hi All, thanks for the feedback. Regretfully, my experience with Indies is that they are very much profit oriented and everything is about "the bottom line" and academic results. I too have heard of instances where student's scholarships have been withdrawn because of behaviour issues or because academic performance has not been exemplary on a consistent basis. The thing that concerns me about my son is that he enjoys being the class clown and making everyone laugh. At his existing school the teachers know that he's just a bit comical and laugh along with him, but I worry if it could be misconstrued as being annoying, or even worse, disruptive at the next school. Every school clearly has a different culture. I know I might sound really ungrateful here, but I'm not - I really don't like the Camp Hill building/interior. It looks so dull, dreary and depressing. I know it's about the education but my son will have to spend 5-7 years there. Our own home is very bright, light and energising and I find KES to be a much nicer environment. However, we couldn't afford it for 7 years without a decent scholarship. Well we could, but we do like to have other nice things as part of our lifestyle and I'm not sure we'd want to compromise on those. I do worry what would happen if they decided to withdraw the scholarship (again if it was offered - current Head Teacher seems pretty confident it will be offered). What a quandary!

In fairness, CHB never struck me as dull, dreary or depressing.
It has many excellent facilities and the outdoor environment is very pleasant. There are new science rooms and a new sixth form block being built.

KES will obviously have more facilities, particularly for the arts, and better kept lawns etc. and it always has done, because parents pay £12,800ish a year to send their sons there, so they have a lot more money to spend.

Thanks UM. That is reassuring and makes perfect sense too.

Facilities are only worth worrying about if your child is going to make use of them. Great to have a climbing wall, for example, but if you child won't use it because he has a pathological fear of heights then it is an expensive ornament for him. Try and overcome your "what it looks like" and think instead "what goes on in here" when looking at classrooms - I have seen some very lovely looking schools but the teaching has been a bit uninspiring!

Only you can decide whether you can afford KES or not - if you are already talking about compromising without the scholarship, what if your circumstances changed midway through his time at the school but there was no bursary pot to help? KES have always seemed one of the more philanthropic schools but I do know an independent who did, in the case of a scholarship kid whose character was a little bit quirky, shall we say, supported him to finish the year he was in when his family situation changed (job loss), but effectively told him there was no bursary support ongoing.

Like Quasimodo I believe scholarships have to be capped at 50% if the school is a registered charity with the charities commission, but in certain family circumstances this can be topped up with a bursary to 100% fee remission. In the case of a 100% bursary, however, this often extends to cover all compulsory trips and unifrom etc etc etc.

The KES website definitely says that scholars awards range from x% to 50%. So, unless it is a poorly kept secret that the school only displays this statement publicly to avoid unwelcome attention from the bodies concerned with issuing guidelines on scholarships and hides away behind that and confidentiality clauses to award higher scholarships to favoured applicants, regardless of financial circumstances, a fairly safe bet would be that anyone benefiting from having to pay no or next to no fees would also be in receipt of a bursary.

Personally, I'm always a little wary of what the HT of one school (indie or state) says about what goes on at another.

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+1....in my experience it is the Bursar that effectively makes all the financial decisions about awards (in terms of bursaries) whereas scholarships tend to be lead by the admissions test people (or music/drama/art/sport if it is a non academic award) and rubber stamped by the Head.