Scholarships, Exhibitions and Bursaries

We welcome applications from the parents of able children who, without assistance, might not be able to afford a Kimbolton education. Each year we have a limited number of means tested bursaries available at the Senior School.

Scholarships and Exhibitions

We award scholarships purely on merit and do not means-test them, scholarships are nominal in value. Our scholarships are awarded at the discretion of the Headmaster and may be supplemented by the award of a bursary if necessary. As recognition of the standards reached, exhibitions are awarded to Sixth Form entrants (from our Fifth Form or elsewhere) who have achieved outstanding GCSE results. We offer the following awards:

First Form (11+)

• A number of Academic scholarships based on performance in the Entrance Examination. We consider all candidates and we do not require potential scholars to make a separate application or to sit a separate paper. Our Prep School pupils are eligible for these awards.

Third Form (13+)

• A number of Academic scholarships based on performance in the Common Entrance Examination (for candidates from prep schools) or our own Entrance Examination (for candidates from other schools). We consider all candidates and we do not require potential academic scholars to sit a separate paper.
• Music scholarships.
• Art and Design scholarships.
• Games and Leadership scholarships.

Lower Sixth Form (16+)

• Academic scholarships and exhibitions for existing or new pupils who have performed exceptionally well in their GCSE examinations.

All Ages (including Prep School)

• Music exhibitions (in the form of four terms of our instrumental tuition funded by the School) are awarded to all those who pass exams at Grade 5 or above with a merit or distinction. On achieving each higher grade, the exhibition is re-awarded. Exhibitions may be held for more than one instrument.

Tenure of Awards

Our scholarships are normally tenable for the whole of a pupil’s time at Kimbolton School, subject to satisfactory progress and performance. We reserve the right to review and if necessary remove awards should circumstances require it.

Bursaries

We offer eligible parents or guardians means-tested financial support towards the payment of school fees. Such support is known as a bursary and is available in the Senior School only. We award bursaries in the form of a discount of up to 100% on tuition fees, depending on the financial, compassionate or other pertinent circumstances of applicants.

We will only consider applications from parents or guardians who have already registered their child for entry and paid the registration fee (currently £100).  Once you have submitted your application for a place, please contact the Deputy Bursar to request a Bursary Application Form. 

For entry below Lower Sixth (Year 12), you need to submit your completed application by the 15 November prior to the following September entry point. For Lower Sixth entry, you need to submit your completed form by 30 November of the previous year (ie after the Entering the Sixth Form Information Evening).  When we write to you in mid-February about your child’s performance in the Entrance Examination or Sixth Form entry interview, we will also inform you of our decision about your bursary application.

When you apply for a bursary we will ask you to complete a questionnaire about your circumstances which covers areas such as your income, the size of your family, your savings and investments and any special circumstances that we need to consider. We will need evidence in support of the income and asset figures that you submit. We will then assess your case. We reserve the right to seek further documentary evidence, and to make enquiries that we deem necessary. Should you be offered and accept a bursary, you inherently agree to repeat this questionnaire and assessment process each year. If your circumstances change, we may increase or decrease the level of our support.

Our bursaries are financed through a limited fund, which receives surplus income, interest (and occasionally capital) from a small endowment fund. As the sums involved are relatively modest not all applications for bursaries will be successful. We have a scale of awards, which sets out how much we should award for any given level of a family’s financial circumstances, and we use this to decide whether and how much to award each case. Each year, we review and revise this scale to reflect any changes in our fees and costs. Though awards are generally tied to this scale, they may be varied upwards or downwards depending on individual parents’ or guardians’ circumstances such as:

• Income, savings, investments and realisable assets
• Size of family, any other persons dependent on them and like factors
• Compassionate or other pertinent considerations.

The process and final awards remain confidential.  Final decisions are made by our Governors' Bursaries Committee which has a very small membership and includes the Headmaster and Bursar.

Further bursary application guidance can be downloaded below (pdf).