Oundle School Foundation:
Scholarships and Bursaries
Oundle is not a richly endowed school and, although some awards are funded by individuals, the Worshipful Company of Grocers and some companies, most Scholarships and Bursaries are funded from the School's own resources. One of the key development goals to which the School is committed is the growth of the Endowment Fund for Scholarships and Bursaries. By seeking to build the Endowment Fund the School is aiming to relieve the burden placed upon it of funding Scholarships and Bursaries from School resources and to introduce a more generous and wide-ranging Scholarship and Bursary policy.
Ever since the foundation of Laxton Grammar School in 1556, the Governors of Oundle have been constant in their belief that the School should be a widely inclusive community, attracting children from a diversity of backgrounds. As fees rise, it is a challenge to maintain this diversity. Our medium term target for the Endowment Fund is £50 million and we remain committed to the long-term goal of being able to say that no girl or boy, for whom Oundle is the right school, will be refused entry because of a lack of parental means.
Means-Tested Scholarships: Fund Raising
An appeal has been launched in memory of three former iconic members of staff:
Dudley Heesom, Frank Spragg and John Matthews. Between them, these three past
masters taught at Oundle for over one hundred years and formed an everlasting
impression on the lives of thousands of Old Oundelians.
In each case, the aim is to raise sufficient funds to support a number of
means-tested scholarships i.e. The Dudley Heesom History Scholarship.
For further details on the criteria of these awards and how to donate to them, please contact Richard Owen at the Oundle School Foundation Tel. 01832 277293
Since 2004 there has been a significant shift in the School's policy on Scholarships and Bursaries. We have cut the value of most Scholarships (from 50% to 25% in the case of the Main Academic Scholarship) with the intention of directing more money towards Bursaries.
Perhaps it would be as well to clear up at this point any doubts you may have about the difference between the two types of award:
Scholarships
Most Scholarships are awarded solely on merit, without regard to financial need. They are competed for in written examinations, interviews, auditions, or other forms of assessment. Some named Scholarships are, at the request of the benefactors, awarded with regard to both merit and need (so-called Means-Tested Scholarships).
A child may win more than one type of Scholarship (Academic and Music being the most likely combination) but may only receive the financial report of the higher value award. The lower valued scholarship becomes honorary in such cases.
Bursaries
Bursaries-on-Entry are applied for by parents before their children start at Oundle.
Bursaries are awarded according to need and are not dependent on scholastic or other special gifts, except insofar as the children in question must satisfy the School's entry requirements and must continue to work to capacity during their progress through the School. We in turn must feel confident that the children will settle in well and will contribute.
It is common for Scholarship winners to have their awards supplemented by Bursaries.
It has always been the case that Bursary help is available to parents who find themselves in need of assistance when their children are already in the School.
The changes made since 2004 have not been fundamental, since the desire to respond to need has always existed at Oundle, however we now have the means to direct more money with more confidence to where we believe it is needed most. This is especially true for Bursaries-on-Entry; whereas in the past applications for these were made on a decidedly ad hoc basis, we now actively encourage parents who believe that they will have difficulty meeting our fees to apply to us and we make sure that prep school and other junior school heads are made aware of our policy. One result of this has been that we are starting to see children come to us, some of them greatly talented, whose parents would not in the past have thought for a moment of a school such as Oundle.
Our 2006 entry lists give an indication of how far we have moved on: we awarded seventeen Bursaries-on-Entry, nine of which were supplementary to Academic, Music or General Scholarships. These Bursaries ranged in value from 100% to 4% (the latter being a supplement to other awards). The parents of at least seven of these children felt able to approach a school such as Oundle only because they knew that substantial financial assistance might be available. Among these seven were three Music Scholars and three General Scholars.
It is, of course, the great generosity of benefactors, in giving to The Endowment Fund and in some cases in funding individual awards, that has enabled us to turn our intentions into practice to such good effect.