Hi, I'm hoping that someone maybe able to assist. My DD didn't do as well on her 11+ for grammar school entry and we are now looking at independant schools. I've never considered this option before and to be honest never considered we could afford to send any of our children to a fee paying school. We would be looking at an assisted place or scholarship. Having looked at some guidance information provided on the KEHS site , it refers to gross income. Would this be the amount earnt on my p60? This figure does not seem to include my pension contributions and is obviously less than my "earnings" as I pay quite a lot into my pension.
If anyone is able to offer any other advice around assisted places it would be appreciated.
Just to note we do not have any savings, investments or large houses so the school would only be looking at our wages.

There is a bursaries post just below your question that you might find helpful, lots of info in it.

Presume you have read this booklet : http://www.kehs.org.uk/images/content/B ... pdated.pdf

I think that when you come to fill in the forms it will become clear what they want - they will be aware that there are people paying a "normal amount" into a pension (probably up to the max that gets tax relief or whatever) and those who are paying in so much that you wonder what they are actually living on

I think if you get a AP which is awarded on academic attainment (there aren't many, the girls' school is much less flush with cash than the boys ) then they will work through all the figures with you

Thank you for your replies. I have read the post ( and a few others on here) along with the school site. To make it clear I do not put extra into my pension it is only what my employers take as standard but is quite a lot. I was just after clarity around the gross pay. I provided income as to what my "salary" is rather than what is is written on my p60 which is different. I was just wondering which is the amount that the schools look at before I take off other deductions.

By the sounds of it you have provided your net income.Gross income would be your total income before any deductions including income tax,national insurance contributions,pension contributions and any other deductions.

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Gross income is your income before any deductions are taken off ie, before pension contributions.

Bursary forms tend to be lengthy & detailed, they'll need proof of all sorts of things relating to finance.

Phone the Foundation and talk to the Bursar (it's not Mrs Andronikou now, it's a lady who used to be at CHB but I've gone completely blank on the name). They're interested in actual gross rather than P60 amount and want to see pay slips as well as the P60 so they can see any deductions that have been made through salary sacrifice (i.e before tax and NI) and therefore don't appear on the P60.

Thank you. I have provided my full salary which is what I earn from my payscale. I am aware they will need full details but was just after an idea. I have worst case scenario to get an idea although I'm not hopeful of an assisted place it is worth a try. It may then be plan c, d or e!

Thank you Mike, I'm going to try not to jump ahead of myself at the moment. I did speak to the lady briefly who explained they look at everything including my pension payout which I have very little choice over ( unless I want no pension at all) . It is just that my actual gross and p60 gross makes a substantial difference in fees. We are also looking at a couple of other local independents so just weighing up options at the moment.

I'm not sure how it works for Kehs, but for a lot of the more selective independents, bursary candidates would need to be at scholarship level academically. If your daughter did not reach the pass level for the 11+ can you get extra support to boost her academics? The bursars enquiry is very detailed. They will ask for payslips, P60, pension paperwork, bank statements over several months etc. Be prepared for not being offered as much as you might need. In addition, think about travel costs, uniform and sports kit costs, trips and fee increases. Clubs all cost extra too.

My DD has already taken the exam. I believe that KEHS looks at potential of children rather than seeing how quickly they can work like the grammar exam. My DD is very capable but has dyslexia so trying to do the amount of questions in a short amount of time was tough for her. She is very creative and this school had 2 creative writing papers. It is just another option we are exploring along with a couple of other independant schools. I feel that with the smaller class sizes she will excel and reach her full potential rather than getting lost at the local comp. Some of the other schools look at scholarships in areas other than maths and English and these are other strengths of hers. Only time will tell. Such a difficult decision as where is best to place my DD as she is extremely bright but struggles to get it on paper.