Bursaries
Bursaries help ensure that pupils are drawn from diverse backgrounds; many of our students are from families whose income is below the national average. Currently, one in five pupils receives a Bursary-assisted place. This is made possible by our Open Door Bursary Fund, which aims to maintain the ethos of Lord Leverhulme who, when re-endowing the School in 1915, wanted to offer an education for all, regardless of financial circumstances.
The School strives to make sure bursary recipients are supported to make the very best of their educational journey at Bolton School. Mrs Jane Mees, the School’s Partnership, Outreach and Liaison Coordinator, works closely with pupils and their families to ensure each bursary recipient has the support and encouragement they need to thrive throughout their time at the School.
Mrs Mees explains more about her role in this short video:
The School offers fee assistance to those parents whose income is such that they would not otherwise be able to pay the full fees. The awards are based on the child's performance in our Entrance Examination and the degree of assistance required. The latter is based on an annual declaration of income and assets. A bursary will usually continue until the end of Year 11 and there is the possibility it will continue into the Sixth Form. The amount to which you are entitled is re-assessed annually.
Parents whose income is less than circa £20,000 may be offered full remission of fees. Those parents whose income exceeds circa £80,000 will not qualify for assistance.
If you wish to be considered for a bursary, please complete the Application Form which will be sent out with the invitation to sit our Entrance Examination. That form will require an estimate of your income for the year ending 5 April. After submission of the form, there will be a parental interview with the School's Clerk & Treasurer for those who are being considered for bursary assistance.
If your child is successful in the Entrance Exam in January they will be offered a place, in writing. That offer will inform you of the provisional level of Bursary Award (if you qualify on financial grounds) in terms of your contribution towards fees. You should then follow the instructions relating to your acceptance of that place.
In May you will be asked to complete a Final Declaration of Income form. On this you will be asked to enter details of your actual income to 5 April . With this Declaration you will be asked to provide documentation to corroborate your income for the previous fiscal year. We will inform you of the amount of your own contribution towards fees, in writing, during the course of the school summer holiday.
The amount of your award will be re-assessed annually. We may ask you to pay a greater proportion of the fees if your income should rise, however there is no obligation on the School's part to increase the percentage should your income fall. Each year you will be asked to complete a new Declaration of Income form and to provide details of your income for the previous fiscal year. You will be provided with explanatory notes in order to help you to complete both the Provisional and Final Declaration forms. Alternatively you may telephone the Bursary Officer, Mrs Saunders, on 01204 840201 ext 329, or contact her by email [email protected].
Bursary support is also available to students who apply to join the Boys' or Girls' Division Sixth Form. We award bursaries after consideration of family income and a student's academic merit. In order to help us ascertain the academic potential of students applying for a bursary we will require them to sit a cognitive test administered by the School.
The George Lancashire Bursary honours a former teacher and entitles a gifted pupil (aged 11+) from any area within the Metropolitan Borough of Salford to a partially or fully funded education at Bolton School.
The Bursary is means-tested and is available to the pupil for each year (11-18) of their study in our Girls’ Division or Boys’ Division.
Any child from Salford who is awarded a 100% bursary from the George Lancashire Fund after engagement with the Bursary Foundation will also qualify to receive an annual ‘Extras’ allowance for the duration of their 100% bursary. This will provide funding for uniform, travel costs, equipment and other associated costs, in order that they can take full advantage of all the opportunities a Bolton School education offers.
The funding is available to an aspiring pupil who wishes to join Year 7 in September each year.
For further details, please call 01204 434729.
The Leverhulme Trust provides funds to help pay the full tuition fees of eight students each year. The money is in addition to that already given by the Trust to help fund the education of 11-16 year olds at the School.
The School has strong and historic links with The Leverhulme Trust. The Trust was founded by the First Viscount Leverhulme, who re-endowed Bolton School in 1913. His funding allowed for the merging of Bolton Grammar School for Boys with the Bolton High School for Girls to create Bolton School (Girls' Division and Boys' Division). The two schools came together to be known as Bolton School and work began on erecting a new building on today's campus in 1915.
Scholarships
A number of Scholarships are available to pupils entering either the Girls’ or Boys’ Division in Year 7. These generous Scholarships, up to £1,000, are not means-tested and are awarded to those pupils who, we believe, show the potential to make a particularly strong contribution to the academic and wider life of the School, including those who are academically strong and who also have an exceptional talent in sport, music or drama.
The Scholarships are offered at the discretion of the Head of Girls’ Division or Head of Boys’ Division and are based on exceptional performance in the Entrance Examination and interviews, as well as information from the school reference and application form.
Further information and application forms to sit our Entrance Examination are available from Helen Atkinson (Girls’ Division: [email protected]) or Angela Fenton (Boys’ Division: [email protected]) on 01204 840201.
A limited number of full- and half- Junior (Year 7-9) and Senior (Year 10-13) instrumental music awards* for organ and for tuned percussion are available to existing pupils of the School. Awards are made at the discretion of the Head of Instrumental Studies; further details can be obtained by contacting Mr Forgrieve via email at [email protected].
* For full awards, the Music Department pays the full annual fee for lessons, and for half awards, the Department pays half the annual fee for lessons.
The Leverhulme Centenary Scholarship Award was established in 2015 in honour of the Centenary of the School. In continuation of that scheme, Bolton School awards four such Scholarships each year across the two Divisions. The awards provide financial support over a period of three years for university for a Bolton School pupil who:
- has achieved a high measure of success in his/her A2 examinations (at least AAA*)
- is planning to attend a University in the United Kingdom
- requires financial support to meet the costs of a University course
Recipients of the Award will receive three annual instalments of £5,000, paid directly to them every October. To receive these funds, the award-holder is required to provide evidence to Bolton School that he or she is enrolled and undertaking a university degree course in the given year.
In subsequent years, the Selection Board will also assess the progress and continuing eligibility of the current Leverhulme Centenary Scholars.
Applicants for the award are invited immediately after A Level results are published each year. Having read the application forms and studied the applicants’ Sixth Form reports and final A Level grades, the Headmistress and Headmaster will invite as many of the applicants as they consider appropriate to attend an interview panel, which they will chair, between the end of August and mid-September.
The decision about the recipients of the Awards will be conveyed to successful applicants before the end of September. The third and fourth place candidates in each Division (if appropriate) will be notified of their position in the rank order, so that an appropriate alternative recipient is in place in case the Award-holder(s) is/are forced to rescind the Award.
Please note that the award holder should either currently be in receipt of a Bolton School Bursary or should be from a family whose current income would entitle them to a Bolton School Bursary, had they applied for one. For those candidates who are not already in receipt of a bursary, it will be necessary for parental income to be assessed, as the School would do when deciding whether to award a bursary. This will require the submission of an FG1 Form with details of the household’s financial situation, alongside various supporting documentation such as payslips, P60s, tax returns and company accounts where relevant. Other documents may also be requested to support the assessment and parents may be asked to attend an interview with the Clerk & Treasurer. Eligibility for an award is usually restricted to pupils whose assessable household income in the previous tax year is less than around £80,000. Assessable income includes all sources of income and is adjusted downwards for each dependant sibling. If you wish to request more information about this process and obtain the FG1 form, please contact the Bursary Office who will be happy to carry out the financial assessment for you at an early date.
In any event, the final assessment of financial eligibility must have been completed prior to 31 August when the interview process will start.
Upon entry to the School, we offer a limited number of scholarships to academically able pupils who demonstrate an exceptional talent in sport and who we believe have the potential to benefit from our all-round education and to contribute to the active life of our community. Below you can view our Elite Athlete Programme - Tennis brochure.