Why your child won't get a bursary to private school, but their rich friend will

Josie* has been told for years that her daughter is gifted by various teachers at her local state primary. So when it came to applying for secondary schools, she entered her for some of the most academic private schools in London, in the hope of being awarded one of the big bursaries that independent schools advertise on their websites.

“We live in a housing association flat,” she says, “and we have zero cash lying around, and no investments, but we wanted to try and give our child the opportunities her dad and I never got. The state secondaries near us are ok but there are some issues, and my daughter struggled with the huge classes at her primary school. We can’t afford to move nearer to any better state schools, like wealthier parents do.

“When we applied for the private schools, my daughter passed all the entrance exams with flying colours, but we didn’t get offered any bursaries that we could even vaguely afford. One school offered 25 per cent off the fees but there was no chance of us managing that. ” The fees, even with 25 per cent off, would have been £6,750 per term, plus £340 non-negotiable extra for food. That’s before the cost of any extra-cirricular activities. Essentially, it’s a meaningless offer. “My child was upset, as she’d worked so hard,” says Josie, “and was told she had every chance…”

Plenty of parents feel the lure of a private education for their children. They hanker after those small class sizes, luscious green lawns, Olympic-sized swimming pool, and the fact that the parents are likely to be famous actors, politicians and business tycoons. Their child might well have the brains and talent – but what if you don’t have the money? Well, the fee-paying sector is traditionally proud of its scholarships and bursaries, keen to market itself as accessible to children from all walks of life.

So, in 2026, could a kid from a genuinely low-income family have a chance of getting to an elite private school on a bursary? In theory – yes. But, as Josie found, that’s not the whole truth.

In 2025, private schools in the UK handed out £1.1bn worth of scholarships and bursaries to 156,000 pupils – that’s about 30 per cent of all children in private schools getting some form of financial aid. The Independent School Council’s (ISC) 2025 census showed that the number of pupils in private schools has fallen, but bursary support has reached a record high.

But staff say many people treat their shops like a tip.

Here they share the most useful donations they get, and the
ones that drive them mad.

The quality of donations over the last year has diminished.

Claire Stockman, head of retail for St
Luke’s Hospice [pictured], says many donations include used items from fast fashion like Boohoo and Primark, which they cannot sell for more than £2, if at all.

of what comes into St Luke’s Hospice is unsellable, Stockman says.

She adds its soiled, damaged beyond
repair or smelly.

Harriet, a volunteer at Crisis in Dalston,
says people bring in clothes that are dirty and stained – things that they cannot sell
on Vinted.

She also sees dirty kitchenware and technology that no longer works.

There was a box donated after someone’s family had passed and in it were all these medals. I researched them and the whole collection ended up going for £2,340…

A good donation is anything new with tags on, anything that hasn’t been opened, or higher quality items.

Items that have been well looked after are more likely to sell and generate a better price for charity too.

Harriet adds that knick-knacks and wine glasses are surprise hits in her branch.

Here, psychologists, career consultants and sleep experts give their best advice on how
to beat the gloom that the
work week is looming…

Pave the way on Friday

Psychologist Maria-Teresa Daher-Cusack says to wrap up tasks and not to leave big or difficult things for Monday. And write a to-do list for the next week so you know what to expect when you return after the weekend.

Get outside early

Doctor Naheed Ali says getting out on a Sunday morning – not sleeping late – helps regulate the circadian rhythm that can become skewed over the weekend.

On Sunday spend time away from technology to allow yourself a personal reset away from doom scrolling.

Put yourself in the best position to rest by avoiding large meals, screens and caffeine.

If possible don’t stack your Mondays with high-pressure tasks.

Don’t just save joyful things for the weekend. On lunch breaks, try to do something you enjoy.

If the Sunday scaries are constant, listen to them. If every Sunday fills you with dread and nothing seems to quell it it’s worth asking if it’s the job, the culture or the career itself. No one should spend half their weekend bracing for impact… ” says Victoria McLean

But no country’s energy system is 100 per cent secure and large-scale blackouts, although rare, are possible.

Here’s how to prepare, and what could happen, if we do have a blackout.

If the UK’s power went down tomorrow, these are the ways it is likely to impact you first.

For EV owners that are already on the road, Professor Keith Bell, who works in electricity planning, recommends that those with an EV with reasonable charge use it as a generator, like your own store of electricity.

In the case of the power system going down, petrol isn’t a totally safe option as queues at petrol stations could be huge and places are likely to run out of fuel.

The longer the power takes to return the worse things are likely to get. In 2021 Storm Arwen physically damaged power lines across the UK.

During the 1977 New York blackout, which lasted 25 hours, there was civil unrest, resulting in widespread looting and arson, although intense heatwaves are thought to have exacerbated the situation.

To get updates during a power cut – a car radio can be used, but in severe weather it might be safer to stay inside.

A minimum of 2.5-3 litres of drinking water per person per day is recommended.

The Government recommends opting for torches over candles, for safety reasons.

Using screens in a way that benefits your child’s development is key and balancing educational content and entertainment with offline activities ensures a well-rounded routine.

For younger children, try scavenger hunts, garden games and nature walks. For older ones, hikes
and biking trips.

Designated screen-free times helps children develop a routine that balances screen use with other activities.

It’s an excellent way
to bond and develop critical thinking skills.

Getting creative, through drawing, painting or model construction, enhances cognitive skills and offers an alternative to screens.

Arrange playdates or group activities with friends, or for older kids try an overnight camping trip in the garden.

Showing that you value offline time encourages your children to do the same.

Implement a reward system where screen time is earned through positive behaviour. 

Discuss the importance of balancing screen time with your children so they understand the reasons behind the rules.

Some studies suggest so.

These are the eight brain-boosting foods registered dietitian Fareeha Jay
recommends people consume as part of a weekly diet…

They contain several nutrients thought to support brain health, including choline, vitamin B12 and iodine.

Caffeine can reduce inflammation and
slow the degeneration
of brain cells.

It’s packed with antioxidants and high in vitamin K, which is essentially for healthy brain cells.

Your brain uses Omega-3s to build brain and nerve cells – so a diet rich in them may slow age-related mental decline.

These improve heart health markers, which is linked to a lower risk of neurological disorders.

They contain compounds which have been shown to improve blood flow to the brain, cognitive function, and memory.

There’s this assumption about being put out to pasture… but now that we’re living and working longer, we have to challenge myths around ageing and remember that over-50s are a crucial part of the workforce…

Yet more than a third of those between 50 and 69 believe that their age puts them at a disadvantage when they apply for jobs. 

The Age Without Limits study from 2024 shows that 37 per cent of workers between 51 to 70 felt badly treated in work because of their age.

We need the same level of career planning in
our fifties as our twenties. It’s possible to reinvent yourself again.

It’s nonsense that older people can’t pick up how to use new tech.

Do you need a pay rise? Could you trade some of that money you earn, to work a bit less, and do more things you enjoy?

Become full-time childcare

Grandparenting on the horizon? If you don’t want to do childcare, have the conversation early – even before a child becomes pregnant – that you plan to continue working and love your job.

Accept redundancy too quickly

It’s going to be so much harder to get back into work if you don’t have a plan before you take that leap.

Everybody thinks early retirement is the dream but the reality can be different. There can be loneliness, lack of purpose and a sense of invisibility. 

Boneless chicken thighs are all meat and a much tastier product.

If you plan every meal all week, there’s no leeway for necessary last-minute changes of plan (or leftovers).

There are so many products that children want to fill the trolley with – all kinds of exciting eye candy. It’s cheaper to go alone.

Consider a vegetable box delivery

Having a Riverford box delivery helps Morris avoid impulse buys and go to the shops
less – even though the box is pricey. “It is expensive, but of great quality and organic”.

Track your spending

It doesn’t need to be an elaborate spreadsheet but without some kind of metric, it’s impossible to spot where you
can or must make cutbacks.

You can save plenty
over a year by never buying branded products at full price.

Do a quick cupboard stocktake. You might find you already have three jars of one thing.

Packing fruit, biscuits, and nuts etc into a Tupperware to take out is more cost effective than buying tiny packaged portions.

“Faking” a takeaway at home can sound like a cheaper option, but if it’s something you don’t usually cook – that needs new ingredients – it could work out pricier.

Returning a few things to the shelves that you won’t need in the near future can save you a healthy amount.

Every time you make do with what’s at home,
you save big.

Try a week or a month of shopping local,
and you might be surprised at the results,
in terms of cost and other benefits like supporting local businesses, and
avoiding car journeys and traffic.

Rebecca Jones has tried most cleaning products in her
decades-long career.

She shares the ones she can’t
live without.

Henry is a classic.
It has fantastic filters, sucks up pet hair quickly, and is great at cleaning up fine dust. 

The Vileda H2PrO set is light, manoeuvrable and keeps clean and dirty water separate.

The HG Glass and
Mirror cleaner removes stains without leaving smudges or streaks.

Best multipurpose cleaner

Method’s multi-surface cleaner is plant-based, cruelty-free, and works great on grease, sinks, sealed wood surfaces, hobs, bins and sealed laminated floors.

Best toilet brush

Unlike a regular toilet brush, nothing gets stuck in the bristles of Ibergrif M34152 Silicone brush. It also dries quickly, so
there’s less odour.

Jones uses the HG Mould Spray on walls, tiles, grout, windows and outdoor furniture.

The Seep Eco Bamboo clothes have a streak-free finish and last.

Every home should have a bottle of Dr Beckmann’s stain remover, says Jones.

Best stain remover

The Mr Siga Multi-Functional Eraser Sponge acts like fine sandpaper to lift
dirt, stains, and scuffs using only water.

Best kept secret

Jones uses Bar Keepers Friend Cleanser to polish stainless-steel, scour sinks and clean her fridge and cookware.

Many of the more famous, elite private schools have charitable beginnings, with Eton established as a charity in 1440 when King Henry VI founded it to provide free education for 70 impoverished boys. So, in some schools, this is a matter of history, and ethos, and a way for the school to also attract the most talented children, even if they’re not rich.

But there is a more pragmatic reason, too. While all private schools were, until 2025, exempt from VAT, roughly 50 per cent of them operate as charities, which means they also pay no corporation tax, capital gains tax or stamp duty. Labour has, in the last year, eliminated some of these significant tax breaks, but private schools with charitable status still don’t pay corporation tax. To keep this often controversial status of “charity”, they have to show they demonstrate “public benefit” – and the most obvious, simple way is by giving some families a portion of money off the fees.

Almost all private secondary schools offer scholarships in order to attract particularly able pupils, who might be exceptionally talented at sport, music or art. These tend to be more about kudos than money – and if there is any reduction in fees, it’s rarely worth more than 10 per cent. Meanwhile bursaries are means-tested and are a form of financial aid for families who can’t pay the full fees. It is also possible for a pupil to be awarded a scholarship to recognise their talent, and then a bursary alongside it, if their parents can’t afford the fees.

Tara* – who is using a pseudonym for the privacy of her child – is a single parent with a salary of £28k. She works as an administrator for a provider of student accommodation, and lives in West Sussex with her 14-year-old Jack*. Three years ago, he was awarded a bursary covering 100 per cent of the school fees to attend Christ’s Hospital school, a half-an-hour’s drive from where they live. The fees without the bursary would be £11,151 a term. “I’ve got no experience of the private school world,” says Tara, “there’s no way my parents could have sent me to one.

“There was a lot of drug use and difficult, shit stuff going on in my family, and I was so scared my son would end up going down that route. A teacher at his primary school took me aside and said he was very bright, and suggested we apply for a bursary.” Tara’s finances, assets, expenditure and circumstances were looked at thoroughly and forensically by the schools. Any school fees would have been too much for her to pay, so only a full bursary would be suitable.

Tara’s son is particularly good at maths and had won a national competition. He did two entrance exams and a verbal and non-verbal reasoning test, then an interview. “They said he was really engaged, and quick, and showed a lot of curiosity, and because he was so clever and also local, and had overcome a lot, he got it. He’s now got a better chance of taking a better path in life.”

Yet, a full bursary like this, which has enabled Jack from a low-income background to enjoy the same education as his wealthier peers, is a rarity – and increasingly so.

A recent report by UCL’s Institute of Education found 30 per cent of all private school bursaries and scholarships go to the wealthiest families. The study by Francis Green, professor of work and education economics, and his fellow researcher, Dr Golo Henseke, analysed 25 years of data to find that on average, middle-income families were the biggest beneficiaries of financial aid, with an average grant of £1,038 per pupil. Pupils from lower-income families received an average grant of £787 per pupil. Pupils from the highest-income families received an average grant of £396.

“The statistical facts are that the number of children getting some kind of fee assistance has increased over time, but the individual amounts have decreased,” says Green. “The same pot has been spread more evenly among a larger number of pupils.” Schools vary widely in the help their provide. Many spent very little on fee assistance, while the Manchester Grammar School covers the full fees of one in 10 pupils. Christ’s Hospital, where Tara’s son goes, represents about 10-18 per cent of all means-tested bursaries granted by UK independent schools.

Why is this happening? Sandra* was a bursar from 2006 to 2023 at a £10k-a-term (£18k for boarding full-time) West London private school, and although she is now retired, she still works part-time in schools. “I believe it’s down to a mix of VAT putting strain on some schools which already had money issues, the fact that often the full bursaries are partly funded by alumni and current, charitable parents – but lots of people are cutting back on their spending. Then, there’s the fact that numbers of pupils at private schools is the lowest in a decade [declining birth rate, cost of living crisis, state schools getting better], so schools are feeling the pinch. So, a school might put its money into better facilities to attract parents, and it’s often bursaries getting pushed to the bottom of the list.”

One parent says that her child’s private school asks for voluntary contributions towards bursaries, but that she will no longer be doing her £100-a-month donation. “With the VAT, and general extra financial burdens of life now, with everything costing more, we are stretched paying our own full fee already. So, I can’t pay towards other children’s education anymore, sadly, as much as I’d like to.”

All this means that the majority of financial aid money is more likely to go to comfortable, middle-class families who might find private school – or, at least, the most expensive private schools – just slightly out of reach. “Support has become more common in the last 25 years,” says Green, “but it remains very limited in its effectiveness in reaching children from less affluent families.”

In 2025, the Private Education Policy Forum, a think-tank aiming to reduce the inequality of independent education, published a report which showed that only 1 per cent of all the UK’s private school pupils receive full means-tested support and pay no tuition fees. The report found that in 2022 to 2023, approximately £185m was spent by schools on fee discounts which weren’t targeted at families on lower incomes.

Tom Fryer, a lecturer at the University of Manchester’s Institute of Education, said: “Unless private school fee remission is means-tested, it can’t truly be said to serve under-resourced students as the sector often claims to do.”

Jonathan Chambers, 30, started secondary school at a mid-tier independent school in St Albans, a commuter town north of London. He then left to go to Eton on a music scholarship. Eton – where fees are £21k per term – has 1,350 pupils, and currently 100 of those receive a full fee remittance, while 20 per cent of pupils there are on some form of bursary. Jonathan was awarded 50 per cent off his fees.

“At Eton, my scope for what I thought is attainable and achievable was massively broadened, just by being in an environment where there are so many quite exceptional people doing so many interesting different things. It gave me the belief that I belonged at these high-achieving parts of society. At the time I was there, it wasn’t uncommon for about a third of the year group to go to Oxford, and I wouldn’t have expected to go to Oxford had I not gone to Eton. Getting through interviews for those institutions is much easier if you’ve had certain experiences at a place like Eton.”

Many private schools keep the details of their financial assistance close to their chests, but St Paul’s School in west London revealed in 2025 that an income of up to £144,000 may result in eligibility for some form of bursary and families with an income below £78,000 may be eligible for an award of 100 per cent fees. City of London School sets the threshold for a parental net income at £70,000 but families with a net household income of £35,000 or less may be eligible for a full bursary and potentially additional financial assistance.

Between 1997 and 2000, the average grant covered 57 per cent of total school fees; by 2021–24 it had fallen to 27 per cent, equivalent to £6,400. Even with 27 per cent off the fees of a cheaper school, you’re still looking at around £6k a term. You’d still need a pre-tax household income of £150,000-200k to begin to afford this in 2026.

Getting a significant, means-tested bursary these days can be highly competitive. Technically, the child doesn’t need to be outstanding in a particular field to get a bursary, but The Good Schools Guide advises: “In reality, due to limited funds, those awarded large bursaries tend to be academically (and on other fronts) exceptional.” It’s not only about one’s financial situation, which will be assessed forensically, but compelling cover letters about what this particularly bright or talented child can bring to the school, interviews and tests.

Due to higher operating costs, the end of business rates relief, and the 20 per cent VAT, almost a fifth of independent schools are reportedly cutting spending on financial aid. “Schools want bums on seats,” says former bursar Sandra, “and are offering discounts to families who could afford it. But those full, 100 per cent bursaries for kids from poorer backgrounds are very hard to come by.”

Julie Robinson, CEO of the ISC, said in 2025: “The rise in bursary funds and partnership work shows that improving education for all continues to be at the heart of our schools’ purpose, even as political decisions affect their work.

“However, given the decline in pupil numbers and the associated fall in revenue, it is unclear whether the past few years of rises in fee assistance will be sustainable in the future. We urge the Government to work with us to ensure independent education remains an option for as many families as possible over the coming years.”

Some might ask – why does it matter? Life is unfair, and the wealthier kids keep going to private school, and the poorer ones don’t. “It matters,” says Green, “because we have a socially segregated system, and it’s not healthy for our society, and is the root of a great deal of injustice. It’s not that we’re going to eliminate inequality via bursaries, but at the moment, the divide between state and private only exacerbates the inequality we already have.” Of the 57 prime ministers in UK history, 47 were educated at private schools. 62 per cent of judges went to fee-paying schools. Private school without a doubt has an enduring influence on forming Britain’s elite.

Now, old Etonian scholar Jonathan runs a small business called Cyser, which makes a historic English drink of cider mixed with honey. “It’s not that I think I’m doing anything necessary remarkable,” he says, “but Eton definitely gave me the confidence to try my hand at anything. You buy into these networks and you have them for life. Unfortunately, to a large degree, that’s the way the world works.”.