11+ Bursaries
Bursary application timeline: 11+ 2025 entry
Applications for 2025 entry are now open, and our closing date is Wednesday 6 November 2024.
If you wish to apply for a bursary, please make this clear on your application form. If your total family income is less than £45,000, we will reduce the size of the application fee from £150 to £30. (If you can’t afford the £30 fee then please let us know.)
We will then send you a financial assessment form, plus guidance on how to complete it. You need to send us the completed form by the application deadline of Wednesday 6 November 2024. If you need to send us any additional documents, we will need those by Tuesday 3 December 2024.
Please note that you information will remain strictly confidential and will not affect the outcome of the academic assessments, which take place in December and are designed to check if candidates would be able to cope with the fast-paced learning here at Highgate.
If your child is invited to a second round interview, you will be invited to attend an online meeting with a representative from BAA (Bursary Assessment Associates). BAA are an expert independent company we use to help us assess bursary candidates. They will treat your information in total confidence, and will help to guide you through the process. You can read more about them here:
Information for parents | Bursary Assessment Associates
In your online meeting, the BAA representative will go through your completed financial assessment form with you, ask any questions, answer any questions that you might have, and give you the chance to explain anything that might be unclear from your application form. They will then make a recommendation to us regarding your suitability for a bursary.
If your child is successful in the second round of assessments, we will then make a final decision on the size of the bursary to award, based on BAA’s recommendation, the number of candidates and the amount of money we have available. We will write to you with an offer of a place, and with information on the size of the bursary.
Please click here to see further information about 11+ 2025 entry.
How much might I receive?
We realise that it is helpful to estimate the size of the bursary support that may be awarded to you. BAA judge each application carefully, taking into account factors such as:
- sources of income
- outgoings
- assets
- liabilities
- the value and council tax band of the family home
- the size of the family
As a very rough guide, if your total family income is less than £40,000 and if you do not have significant assets (e.g. savings), then you could be entitled to a 100% bursary, as well as additional help with uniforms, IT, educational trips, etc. If your total family income is more than £70,000 then it is unlikely you will be eligible for a bursary.
However, these very rough figures are for guidance only. As we noted above, BAA will take into account a number of factors, so if you think that you may be eligible for help then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Key worker bursary
Each year, we make available one full-fee equivalent bursary for children of parents/carers who are key workers living in the local area.
We define a key worker as someone who is employed by the public sector, in a frontline role, delivering an essential public service. Examples of such roles include: clinical NHS staff (other than doctors and dentists), teachers in schools and in further education and sixth form colleges, police officers and community support officers, prison officers, probation service staff, firefighters, ambulance service crew and members of the armed forces.
Our key worker bursary provides an enhanced level of support over a wider range of total family income: for this bursary, you can consider applying if your total family income is up to £125,000.
NB: Whilst this bursary is aimed at families where both parents/carers are key workers, in a situation where only one is employed in such a role, careful consideration will be given to the circumstances/employment of the second parent/carer in deciding whether this specific bursary should apply.
Read our Bursary FAQ