Foundation Pupils

A Bridewell Foundation Pupil

King Edward’s Witley changing lives and creating new life opportunities for deserving scholars

King Edward’s Witley has always had, and continues to have, a strong belief in social responsibility. The School was founded in 1553 on compassion and generosity towards the less fortunate– please read more about our history here. To continue the supporting mission of the School we offer means-tested bursaries to children from challenging backgrounds, and thereby give them an opportunity to thrive and reach their full potential.

Funding for our bursary support is from the School’s parent Foundation: Bridewell Royal Hospital. At any one time, we may have between 5 and 10 Foundation Bursary pupils in each year group.

Bursaries range from 10% up to a maximum of 50% of boarding or day fees. All bursary awards (boarding and day) are made after assessing the financial circumstances of the family (income and assets), as well as the individual child’s “boarding need” or other reason for coming to the School as a day pupil.

Bursary applications should be started at the same time the child registers to join the School.

Bursaries for Boarding Pupils

The ‘boarding need’ is a measure of illness, disability, or other trauma in the home – where it would be beneficial for the child to be away from home for a few weeks at a time, enabling them to concentrate on their academic studies during the day and to participate in other activities after School or at the weekends.

For a situation where we offer a 50% bursary to a child with a high boarding need, we have strong links with a number of other charities who might be able to provide additional financial support. In such a situation several charities might each be able to grant an award, and these will accumulate to cover some, most or even all of the fees remaining.

The School, or a third-party supporting charity, may require a home visit to take place.

Bursaries for Day Pupils

Bursary applications for day pupils, still need to demonstrate a strong reason for coming to the School, what we might call the ‘potential to benefit’ from coming to King Edward’s. Assessing the financial circumstances of the family (income and assets), will still be required in this application.

Again, bursaries for day pupils might reach 50% of the school fees, but in these applications there will not be additional third-party charity support, so it is more relevant for the family to have some regular income to cover the remaining School fees.

If you would like more information on our Foundation Bursaries, please contact the Bursaries & Charities Officer, Nick Leiper de Bathe, on bursaries@kesw.org or telephone 01428 686700. The deadline for all bursary applications is November 1st.