The number of children able to attend Kingston Grammar School on either free or subsidised places is set for a boost, following a major overhaul of the school’s scholarship and bursary funding.
With only 57 per cent of Kingston students receiving a place at their first choice state school, the 450-year-old independent institution is hoping to plug what it described as an “education gap”, by cutting the value of some scholarships and channelling the savings into bursaries for poorer applicants.
The school hopes to treble its bursary monies through the new measures, in addition to creating an entirely new fund to provide a total of six full fee bursaries from 2010.
Headmaster Duncan Baxter said: “Many families move to Kingston attracted by the high quality schools, only to find that they cannot get a place at their school of choice.
“What better way to celebrate our 450 years of serving the community in Kingston than to review and renew our commitment to providing the best possible education to the widest possible section of the community?”
The school was founded as a Free Grammar School by Queen Elizabeth I in 1561 and has always attracted a broad social mix of able pupils, most recently as a direct grant school and participant in the assisted places scheme.
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