Fees and Bursaries
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Fees (2011/12)
The fees are payable before the start of each term, and are currently (September 2011) as follows:
Boarders per term £6,275
Day pupils per term £4,355
The following discounts are available:
- For the third member of a family whilst three siblings are in the school at the same time:- 50% for that period.
- For a third member of a family who does not qualify as above and who starts in Form 5:- 10% throughout.
- For a fourth or subsequent member of a family:- 100% whilst four or more are in the school at the same time and 50% otherwise.
- For those families who have four or more children committed to enter the school and where the third child is starting in Form 4 and does not qualify for the three at one time discount there is the option to claim a 10% discount for that child and to have the fourth child's discount reduced to 40%.
In the event of a child being withdrawn from the school before the full course is completed, parents are required to give a full term's notice, in writing, of such withdrawal. Failure to do so will result in their being charged for the subsequent term.
REGISTRATION
To secure a place, a completed registration form should be returned to the school as early as possible, together with a fee of £50. Some nine months or a year before the date of entry parents will be asked to confirm their intention to send their child to Belhaven and to forward a refundable deposit of £250.
EXTRAS
Extras consist of those expenses that a child may incur during the course of a term, such as postage, sweets, chemist's bill, Common Entrance fees, music tuition, travel and so on. There are also various activities for which a small charge is made, such as golf, tennis lessons or skiing. There is an optional School Fees Protection and BUPA Scheme in case of illness. Extras are kept to a minimum as far as possible and depend to a certain extent on the number of pursuits a child wishes to undertake.
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Bursaries
The Governors of Belhaven Hill recognise that independent school fees are at levels that may, despite the best endeavours of parents, exclude children from the School. Accordingly, the Governors set aside a fixed sum each year to provide bursaries for children whose parents could not otherwise afford to send them to Belhaven Hill.
Bursaries are awarded to girls and boys who enter the school as day or boarding pupils, generally in Forms 5 and 4 (aged 8 or 9), and sometimes higher up the school.
Means testing is used to determine whether a bursary is to be awarded and to what value, with the minimum award being 25% of the fees and the maximum 100%. Parents applying for bursaries are asked to complete a means test form and to provide the validating documentation requested. All documents will be treated as confidential. Successful applicants will also be required, on an annual basis, to update information regarding their current financial circumstances, so that the level of award can be reviewed and adjusted where necessary. They may also be awarded on compassionate grounds.
Belhaven Hill offers its pupils a wide and challenging curriculum, in and out of the classroom. Accordingly, the Governors are concerned that bursaries should be awarded to children who can take good advantage of the opportunities on offer. Prospective pupils are invited to visit the School with their parents, so that they can view the facilities and meet the Headmaster, other Staff and children already at the school. There may be an academic assessment but the individual qualities of the applicant and suitability for life at Belhaven Hill will be the prime considerations. Candidates will be expected to make a positive contribution to the life of the School and to be eager and likely to benefit from Belhaven Hill’s unique environment.
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To Apply
Parents wishing to apply for a bursary should please contact The Headmaster’s Secretary (01368 862785) as soon as possible to arrange a visit. If after the visit they wish to seek a place for their child they should complete and return entry and means test forms and return them to the School. The School will then notify the parents of the level of bursary available.
Short-term help for current parents in financial difficulties may be available from some limited funds; in the first instance please contact the Headmaster for more information.
Belhaven Hill School is registered as a company: SC41034 and as a charity: SC007118 at 61 Dublin Street, Edinburgh EH3 6NL
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Grant Making Trusts
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 sufficiently 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.
Application forms are available from most trusts while others require applications in writing, often restricted to an A4 sheet. Guidance notes issued by trusts should be followed carefully. The SCIS leaflet, Meeting the Cost of School Fees, is also available to download on their web page, and contains advice on constructing applications to best effect. For further advice and guidance, please call SCIS on 0131 556 2316.
The following directories of trusts, published by the Directory for Social Change, are useful sources of information. They can all be accessed free of charge in the reference section of public libraries.
• A Guide to Scottish Trusts
• Directory of Grant Making Trusts
• The Educational Grants Directory
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