Bursaries

Bursary Policy

It is the intention of Cargilfield to make its education as accessible as possible. The Governors of Cargilfield are pleased to offer means-tested bursaries aimed at children who might not otherwise be able to attend the School but would, in the opinion of the Governors, benefit from attending Cargilfield and having an on-going independent school education.

Bursary Fund

This fund is specifically designed to allow children to have access to a Cargilfield education, irrespective of their financial circumstances, so as to encourage a wide diversity of children at the School.

While we are continuing to raise funds to support this process, these funds are currently limited, and so the priority will be given to talented children where the Headmaster would feel more confident of securing similar bursary support at a senior independent school or to children whose circumstances would suggest that they will particularly benefit from a Cargilfield education.

With that in mind, bursaries are currently only offered to children in Form 4 and above and are conditional upon children playing as full and active a part in school life as they are able.

Bursary awards may be up to 100% of fee remission. The amount of an award is not influenced by the abilities of a child, but by the extent of financial need.

Hardship Fund

This fund is available to support children currently at Cargilfield where a significant change in financial circumstances threatens a child’s continued attendance at Cargilfield.

In this situation, we would expect children to have already been at Cargilfield for at least a year and we would do our best to support them up until a natural point of transition such as the end of Pre-Prep or S1 entry at other local schools.

The awards from both of these funds are means-tested and reviewed on an annual basis (or sometimes more frequently). They will require the completion of a financial statement from parents. These are treated in the strictest confidence.

Financial support will only be considered after all other avenues for financing school fees have been exhausted.

Cargilfield also offers bursaries to families with parents serving in the Armed Forces or who are teaching in either independent or maintained schools.

Criteria

All reasonable factors will be taken into consideration when making assessments of financial need. These will include a full review of assets and other financial commitments.

Process

Financial Statement forms are available from the Bursar who would be happy to discuss the process with you. The submission of these forms must be made by the middle of February ahead of a new school year starting in August or September.

In the case of applications for the hardship fund, these cannot always fit within this time frame and so the School is happy to discuss a change in financial circumstances at any point in the year.

These forms are assessed externally to ensure transparency and fairness and their findings are confidential to the members of the Bursary Committee which will include the Headmaster, the Bursar, a number of governors and a representative from Chiene and Tait Chartered Accountants, who act as the Company Secretary.

As financial circumstances can change during a year, all bursaries are subject to an annual or, in some cases, termly review. Successful applicants can expect to have to provide updated financial information at any time at the sole discretion of the School.

The Bursary Committee reserve the right to operate other checks in making their decisions which might include further conversations with a family or visits to their home.

Donating to the Funds

The success of these bursaries depends partly upon the generosity of those who are inspired by extending opportunities to those children who wouldn’t otherwise be able to enjoy a Cargilfield education.

We are, therefore, always interested to hear from those people who would like to help in supporting children at Cargilfield.

Likewise, we would be most grateful if parents would consider repaying all or part of the bursary received when and if their circumstances allow.

Making contact

To contact the school for details and application forms, please contact the Bursar by telephone on 0131 336 2207 or by email at [email protected].

In addition to the School’s own Means Tested Bursaries, there are also grant-making trusts for those in genuine need.

In cases of genuine need, charitable grant-making trusts can sometimes help parents to meet the cost of school fees at independent schools. Some trusts will help where a child already attends an independent school but is at risk of having to leave at a critical stage of their education due to an unforeseen change in financial circumstances caused by, for example, serious ill health or the death of a parent

Some trusts will provide financial support to enable children to attend independent schools, especially where it can be demonstrated that the child’s needs cannot be met adequately elsewhere or, in the case of boarding, if there is a family difficulty at home which makes the home environment unsuitable.

SCIS (the Scottish Council of Independent Schools) has compiled a list of trusts, available to download on their web site – www.scis.org.uk – that will consider applications for help in meeting school fees, including eligibility criteria and contact details. Since the number of applications trusts receive often far exceeds the available funds, please consider carefully whether you meet the eligibility criteria before making an application.

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