Bursaries
St Neot’s Prep School is a charitable trust committed to widening access to a St Neot’s education. We aim to offer places to pupils in the local community, whose parents would otherwise be unable to afford to pay the full school fee. Bursaries, if awarded, are offered from Reception upwards.
Please contact the Head of Admissions if you would like to discuss this further in the strictest of confidence.
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What is a bursary?
A bursary is financial help towards the payment of school fees and is awarded to pupils who have been offered a place at the school but who would not be able to take up the place without financial support.
The value of a bursary is, dependent of family circumstances.
Our bursaries are means-tested and reviewed annually.
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Is there a maximum income for bursary applicants?
The School does not have an income scale linked to bursary awards. When assessing a bursary, we consider the applicant’s broader financial circumstances, including income, savings and other investments such as the value of any property.
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What costs will be covered by the bursary?
Bursaries are remission on school fees only. They do not cover any extra costs such as uniform or equipment.
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How does the application process work?
We use an independent company, Bursary Administration Ltd (BAL,) to help us with the bursary assessment process. The financial information that you provide in your application is used to establish the level of assistance that you will require to be able to accept a place at the School. Your financial information will be submitted using the School’s online bursary application portal. When you apply for a bursary, you will be sent an email inviting you to set up an account and provide information about your income, expenditure, assets, and liabilities. You can save your application at any time and return to it later by logging back into your account. Once you have submitted your financial information, you will be asked to upload your supporting documentation. A list of the documents you will need to provide such as recent payslips, P60s, business accounts, and bank and credit card statements is included in the guidance notes on the portal. Applications are not complete until the documents have been uploaded.
Finally, you will be asked to arrange a call with BAL who will talk you through the information you have provided in order to make sure they understand the full financial picture before they make their recommendation to us. All BAL staff are appropriately trained and vetted staff and complete confidentiality is guaranteed.
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Which parent should make the application?
We require full financial information from all those with legal parental responsibility for the child, including details of anybody else contributing financially to the household. Where applicable, the assessment process considers the cost of maintaining two households and any maintenance paid for children of a previous marriage.
Where both parents live at the same address you should complete a single application.
Parents who are separated or divorced will be asked to submit separate applications. The bursary cannot be assessed until both applications have been submitted. To enable the assessment process to run smoothly, it is important that parents are in agreement about making the bursary application, so it is advisable to discuss this between yourselves before applying for a bursary. The parent initiating the bursary application will be sent the link to the online bursary application portal. As part of the initial account set up, details of the second parent including an email address must be provided. The second parent will then be sent an invitation to set up a separate account linked to the child. Information provided by one parent will not be visible to the other.
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What do we need to include in the application?
You will need to provide details of your current income, a detailed breakdown of your expenditure, and details of your assets and liabilities, including your family home and mortgage, any other properties owned, current bank balance and savings accounts, and any loan agreements. If you run your own business, we will also need information about your income from that business using your latest available accounts. You must be as accurate as possible on the form so that we can make a fair assessment of the amount of financial support you need.
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What if we’ve been offered a bursary but think we still can’t afford the fees?
The offer of a bursary is discretionary and final. The bursary assessment process looks in detail at your ability to pay fees. The School will base the award it offers your child on its assessment of what you can afford. If the school makes a bursary award, you may find that in order to take up the place you will need to make some adjustments to your spending, use some savings or realise the value of some assets. It is up to you to decide if you are willing to make those adjustments.
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If my child is awarded a bursary will they automatically qualify for a bursary for the rest of their time at the school?
All bursary awards are subject to annual review and may be varied upwards or downwards depending on parental circumstances and the availability of School funds. If parents/guardians’ circumstances improve, there is an obligation to make the School aware. However, our expectation is that a bursary, once awarded will remain at a similar level if your financial circumstances are unchanged year on year.
A bursary is financial help towards the payment of school fees and is awarded to pupils who have been offered a place at the school but who would not be able to take up the place without financial support.
The value of a bursary is, dependent of family circumstances.
Our bursaries are means-tested and reviewed annually.
The School does not have an income scale linked to bursary awards. When assessing a bursary, we consider the applicant’s broader financial circumstances, including income, savings and other investments such as the value of any property.
Bursaries are remission on school fees only. They do not cover any extra costs such as uniform or equipment.
We use an independent company, Bursary Administration Ltd (BAL,) to help us with the bursary assessment process. The financial information that you provide in your application is used to establish the level of assistance that you will require to be able to accept a place at the School. Your financial information will be submitted using the School’s online bursary application portal. When you apply for a bursary, you will be sent an email inviting you to set up an account and provide information about your income, expenditure, assets, and liabilities. You can save your application at any time and return to it later by logging back into your account. Once you have submitted your financial information, you will be asked to upload your supporting documentation. A list of the documents you will need to provide such as recent payslips, P60s, business accounts, and bank and credit card statements is included in the guidance notes on the portal. Applications are not complete until the documents have been uploaded.
Finally, you will be asked to arrange a call with BAL who will talk you through the information you have provided in order to make sure they understand the full financial picture before they make their recommendation to us. All BAL staff are appropriately trained and vetted staff and complete confidentiality is guaranteed.
We require full financial information from all those with legal parental responsibility for the child, including details of anybody else contributing financially to the household. Where applicable, the assessment process considers the cost of maintaining two households and any maintenance paid for children of a previous marriage.
Where both parents live at the same address you should complete a single application.
Parents who are separated or divorced will be asked to submit separate applications. The bursary cannot be assessed until both applications have been submitted. To enable the assessment process to run smoothly, it is important that parents are in agreement about making the bursary application, so it is advisable to discuss this between yourselves before applying for a bursary. The parent initiating the bursary application will be sent the link to the online bursary application portal. As part of the initial account set up, details of the second parent including an email address must be provided. The second parent will then be sent an invitation to set up a separate account linked to the child. Information provided by one parent will not be visible to the other.
You will need to provide details of your current income, a detailed breakdown of your expenditure, and details of your assets and liabilities, including your family home and mortgage, any other properties owned, current bank balance and savings accounts, and any loan agreements. If you run your own business, we will also need information about your income from that business using your latest available accounts. You must be as accurate as possible on the form so that we can make a fair assessment of the amount of financial support you need.
The offer of a bursary is discretionary and final. The bursary assessment process looks in detail at your ability to pay fees. The School will base the award it offers your child on its assessment of what you can afford. If the school makes a bursary award, you may find that in order to take up the place you will need to make some adjustments to your spending, use some savings or realise the value of some assets. It is up to you to decide if you are willing to make those adjustments.
All bursary awards are subject to annual review and may be varied upwards or downwards depending on parental circumstances and the availability of School funds. If parents/guardians’ circumstances improve, there is an obligation to make the School aware. However, our expectation is that a bursary, once awarded will remain at a similar level if your financial circumstances are unchanged year on year.