Bursaries

A bursary is a means-tested award offering financial support to families towards covering some or all school fees at Streatham & Clapham High School. The assessment is conducted centrally within the GDST, and you will need to provide proof of income and other information regarding your resources and assets. GDST will assess whether you meet the criteria for eligibility with fee assistance. Please use the link below for further information on the GDST bursary scheme. 

We offer bursaries so that a GDST education is accessible to the best and the brightest girls, including those who are not able to pay full school fees. The key difference between a bursary and a scholarship award is that a bursary is means-tested, and a scholarship is not. Bursary awards take your family’s financial situation into consideration when assessing the award, which is directly related to the income and financial resources of the student’s family. A scholarship award, whether this is academic, sporting, artistic, dramatic or musical, is merit-based and awarded purely in recognition of a student’s achievements and future contributions to the school in their discipline. Scholarship awards do not take a family’s income or resources into consideration and are measured based on our entrance criteria.

Yes, it is possible for a pupil to be in receipt of both a bursary and a scholarship award. Please note that all candidates for Year 7 entry are automatically assessed for an Academic Scholarship but separate applications are required to be considered for Specialist Scholarships in Art, Drama, Music or Sport. If you would like to complete a Year 7 bursary award application, as well as an application for a Year 7 Specialist Scholarship, then you will need to complete a separate form for each in your admissions portal.

Students applying for Sixth Form in Year 12 who want to be considered for any Scholarship opportunity – whether Academic, Art, Drama, Music, or Sport – must complete a separate form for each scholarship type in the admissions portal.

Bursary awards range from 30% to 100% of fees. For bursary awards covering less than 100% of the school fees, families will be responsible for paying the remaining balance. The number of awards available may vary from year to year and this depends on the local demand, as well as the amount of funding available. Pupils in receipt of a bursary award totalling 95% or more are also eligible for additional grants to cover some day-to-day school essentials. 

We understand that there are additional costs associated with a pupil’s education aside from school fees. As such, if you are in receipt of a bursary award of 95% or more, pupils qualify for additional grants in the form of:

• Free school lunches

• A uniform grant towards core items

• School trips that are required as part of the curriculum

• School trips involving the whole school year

• Free school transport (if you live than 3 miles from school)

• A laptop device grant to be used towards purchasing or renting a device

• Free music lessons for one instrument * (For pupils wishing to pursue other interests instead of music, for example, drama or sports, approval must be sought in writing from the Head)

• No additional costs for public examinations Please note that school textbooks and stationery are not included in any grants and do not form part of our school fees.

As of January 2023, over 6% of our students in our Senior school community are in receipt of a means-tested bursary award. This equates to just over 40 pupils in the Senior school and Sixth Form who benefit from the scheme, with over half of these pupils in receipt of a full 100% award.

We are only able to make bursary awards for pupils joining us in Year 7 and Year 12. We are unfortunately not able to award bursaries at any other occasional place entry point.

The GDST considers a range of objective criteria when assessing who is eligible for a bursary award, including the income and capital resources of the families applying.

Most higher-value bursaries are awarded to pupils from families with a total income of less than £49,500 and who have no capital assets other than their home. It is highly unlikely that a bursary would be awarded to a family whose annual income is greater than £107,500.

It is anticipated that bursary awards will last for the duration of the pupil’s time at Streatham & Clapham High School. However, bursary awards are subject to an annual re-assessment process that will consider any significant changes in family income or circumstances. A bursary may therefore increase or decrease to reflect such changes. This is to ensure that those most in-need continue to receive support from the GDST and benefit from the bursary programme.

In rare and exceptional circumstances, a bursary award may be withdrawn if, for example, incorrect information has been provided at the point of application or re-assessment, or if your child’s behaviour or work ethic is unsatisfactory.

All bursary applications are assessed centrally within the GDST and independently from the Admissions office at Streatham & Clapham High School. As such, we carefully assess all candidates to our school in the same holistic way and a bursary application will have no bearing on our decision when reviewing performance in our entrance assessments. We expect that all pupils must achieve the same academic standard in our admissions assessments to be offered a place.

To apply for a bursary, you must first complete a registration form with Streatham & Clapham High School. You will not be able to commence a bursary application until you have completed your main registration form. When completing your registration form, please indicate that you wish you apply for a bursary at the end of the first page titled Child’s Basic Details. The bursary application portal will open on 1 October for families with pupils in Year 6 and Year 11. 

The GDST bursary award application portal will open on 1 October for families with pupils in Year 6 or Year 11. You will not be able to apply for a bursary if your child is outside of these year groups or your application is submitted before 1 October.

If you have indicated on your registration form that you wish you apply for a bursary and have completed a full registration to Streatham & Clapham High School, we will contact you via email to let you know that the bursary portal is open for you to submit your application. As part of your bursary application, you will need to upload your supporting financial documents to GDST. Please do not commence a bursary application before this time.

You will need to ensure that your main registration form and your bursary application are both completed by the deadline of 31 October 2024. This deadline is firm and applies to both Year 7 and Year 12 entry.

As it may take some time to gather the required evidence, we recommend familiarising yourself with the bursary application as soon as the portal is open and to submit it well in advance of the deadline. The bursary application portal will close on 31 October and we will not be able to consider late applications beyond this date.

Thursday 31 October 2024: Application Deadline (including specialist scholarships and bursaries)

12 – 14 November 2024: 11+ Group Observation Activity & Creative Writing

Saturday 7 December 2024: ISEB 11+ Assessment at SCHS

Tuesday 4 February 2025: Offers Sent Out

Thursday 27 February 2025: 11+ ‘Carpe Diem’ Offer Holders’ Day

Tuesday 4 March 2025: 11+ Offer Acceptance Deadline (midday)

We can waive your registration fee if you are both:

• Intending to apply for a bursary and;

• In receipt of universal credit (formerly child tax credits), pupil premium or free school meals.

Please note that we will request up to date evidence of the above to be sent to the Admissions office before a registration fee waiver can be applied. In the instance that a registration fee waiver has been applied but you have not proceeded to submit a bursary application, you will be required to pay the registration fee prior to your daughter sitting our admissions assessment in November 2024.

To discuss a fee waiver, please email the admissions office via admissions@schs.gdst.net or call 0207 677 8400.