Student Bursary Scheme

Introduction

Chapeltown Academy is committed to doing its best to help all students to access the education it provides and undertakes to help its students financially when possible. We have a small amount of funding to distribute for the purpose of discretionary student bursaries. The discretionary bursary scheme covers expenses for example, laptop, travel, meals (if not eligible for free school meals), books and equipment. If you feel that you are in difficult financial circumstances, we would not want this to prevent you from getting the most out of your time with us and we will therefore consider applications for a discretionary bursary payment. Students may apply for one, or more of the available discretionary bursaries listed below. The school follows strict guidelines and criteria when awarding discretionary bursaries, and there is no guarantee that if you are awarded one type of discretionary bursary you are automatically entitled to any other type of discretionary bursary.

In addition to the discretionary bursary scheme, we may be able to help with further advice and guidance for any of our students who are in financial difficulty. If you meet the eligibility criteria, the school will be able to help you claim for a vulnerable bursary up to the value of £ 1200, from the Student Support Bursary Service. For further details of this type of bursary, to find out if you are eligible and how to claim please contact Lesley Starkes, Finance and Business Manager.

There are conditions for receiving the bursary, and students will be expected to have regular attendance and punctuality, and exhibit good behaviour whilst being on roll at the school. Should a student fail to comply with the conditions, a meeting will be held to address any concerns, and should there be no improvement by the student, then the bursary may be withdrawn without notice.

Eligibility Criteria for all discretionary bursaries

The eligibility criteria for all discretionary bursaries are as follows (they will be applied in the following order of priority):

All applicants must be aged over 16 and under 19 at 31st August before the academic year in question

  1. Your household income (in most cases applicants with a household income of below £19,500 will be eligible for this bursary. Successful applicants will be required to provide evidence of the information provided).
  2. The total cost of your daily, return journey to the Academy (after receiving all applications, the journey cost of all applicants will be compared, and this will inform the distribution of funding. Successful applicants will be required to provide evidence of the information provided).
  3. Family Circumstances including single parent families, or where a student is a Carer, or where there are a number of dependent children in the family, or is a teenage parent themselves
  4. Other criteria includes students who are/have been eligible for free school meals or are/have been a “Looked after child” in the last three academic years. However, these students are not automatically entitled to a bursary but their circumstances may mean they fall into the categories in 1 – 3 above.

Evidence to support your application

If your application is successful you will need to provide evidence as follows:-

  1. Household income:-

Chapeltown Academy defines ‘household income’ as the gross income of you and any parent(s)/carer(s) that you live with. The figure is ‘gross’, i.e. before tax is taken off, and includes salary, benefits payments, interest income, etc. Acceptable forms of evidence include:-

  • A HMRC P60 ‘End of Year’ certificate
  • Payslips from the last three months of employment
  • 3 months of bank statements
  • A benefits statement(s) issued by a national or local government institution.

Other evidence may be accepted (at the discretion of the Head Teacher).

  1. Travel costs, acceptable forms of evidence include:-
  • A print-out from an official travel operator’s web-site or published literature, showing the daily return fare
  • A bus/train ticket
  • A print-out from ‘Google Maps’, showing the details of a car journey (including start and end post-code). For the purposes of calculating the cost of a car journey, a flat rate of 40p per mile will be used. However, successful claims will be awarded an annual petrol fund, which is claimed by presenting a petrol receipt to school.

Other evidence may be accepted (at the discretion of the Head Teacher).

  1. Family circumstances:-
  • These must be outlined on the application form, and disclosed at time of enrolment, unless circumstances change during the academic year.
  1. Free School Meals / Looked after child
  • Letter/email from previous school confirming eligibility of free school meals, or confirmation as a Looked after child.

Types of Discretionary Bursaries

Discretionary bursaries are awarded by the school, and can vary in amount of money awarded per student and how they are paid or honoured.

Laptop Bursary: If a student has no access to a laptop, tablet or desktop PC at home, they can apply for a loan laptop. This is issued to the student to use as their own on an annual loan (bi-annual for Y12 students), and must be returned on leaving the Academy. The laptop comes complete with Microsoft Office software, and all students are set up with a school email address.

Travel bursary: If a student is not eligible for a free bus pass from the Local Authority, then they can apply for a travel bursary. This bursary also covers petrol costs for students who are driven to school by parents due to the distance or length of time using public transport would take, or who drive themselves via a car, motorbike or moped. The bursary can vary in monetary value, but is usually a weekly bus pass for use on local buses at £ 6.50 per week, or a monthly rail pass, or an allocated sum for petrol costs. Payment is made weekly or monthly following the production of the bus pass or ticket, the rail pass or a VAT petrol receipt.

Books and equipment: The school can help eligible students to purchase Academic books or learning equipment from the bursary fund. Students should notify the Finance & Business Manager, Lesley Starkes, of any requirements notified to them by teaching staff, and arrangements can be made to purchase the items on behalf of the student. Monetary values may differ dependent on items required, and bursary funding available.

Meals: If a student is not eligible for free school meals, but who otherwise meets the school criteria for the bursary scheme, can be awarded a daily meal to the value of a free school meal (currently

£ 2.40 per day). The meal must be taken with our Catering partner, who will provide meals on site at Chapeltown Academy, or who may give credit for purchases at the adjoining Churchill’s Café.

No cash alternative is available for any of the bursary types, as the school must maintain an audit trail and provide evidence of award via receipts, invoices etc.

How to apply

To apply please complete the form on the following pages, and return this to the Academy’s Finance and Business Manager, Lesley Starkes, by any of the following channels:

  • Post: Lesley Starkes, Chapeltown Academy, Hydra Business Park, Nether Lane, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S35 9ZX
  • Email: Please send a scanned copy to .

A soft copy of this application form can be downloaded from the Academy’s web-site ( Additional hard copies are available on request (please contact Lesley Starkes using the contact details given above).

The deadline for first wave applications is 9 a.m. the first Monday in September. Applications submitted after this date may not be considered, as the Academy endeavours to process applications once per academic year. However, we appreciate that student circumstances may change during the academic year, therefore applications can be made at any time, and will be assessed following the criteria mentioned above.

Final decisions

All bursary applicants will be informed of the outcome of the process in writing by the 2nd week in September including which type of bursary has been awarded, how much the bursary is worth, and how the funding can be claimed by the student. Students should keep all travel costs (e.g. bus tickets) from 1st September, as these can be claimed in retrospect, following award of a bursary.

If, after receiving the outcome of your bursary application(s), you feel that some important information has been overlooked in the assessment of your case, please contact Lesley Starkes, Finance and Business Manager in the first instance. Please allow five working days for a response.

If you are unsatisfied with the outcome of this course of action, then please contact the Head Teacher. All final bursary decisions are made at the discretion of the Head Teacher.

Further information

If you have any questions regarding the operation of this bursary scheme, please contact Lesley Starkes, Finance and Business Manager, using the details provided above.

Student Discretionary Bursary Scheme - Application Form

If you think you may be eligible for the discretionary bursary scheme, please read the Academy’s guidance note, and then complete the following form. Please provide as much detail as possible. The form should be completed by students.

PERSONAL DETAILS:
Full Name: / Date of Birth:
Address (including postcode):
Home Telephone: / Mobile telephone:
Email address:
LAPTOP:
Do you wish to apply for a loan laptop? Yes // no
Do you have access to any other laptop, tablet
or desktop PC at home? Yes // no
TRAVEL COSTS:
Do you wish to apply for a travel bursary? Yes // no
(please tick as appropriate)
How do you travel to school: car // bus // train // tram // motorcycle or moped // other
(please tick as appropriate)
Other (please state):
How much is your return daily fare or petrol costs?
(mileage @ 40p per mile) £
BOOKS & EQUIPMENT:
Do you wish to apply for a bursary to purchase
Academic books or learning equipment? Yes // no
(please tick as appropriate)
MEALS
Do you wish to apply for a bursary to cover a
meal at school each day? Yes // no
(please tick as appropriate)
ELIGIBILITY
What is your total annual household income? £
Are you or have you been entitled to Free school meals Yes // no
in the last three academic years?
Are you or have you been a looked after child in the Yes // no
last three academic years?
Are you part of a single parent family? Yes // no
Are you a Carer for another relative? Yes // no
Are you a parent yourself? Yes // no
How many other dependent children, under 16,
live at your home address? =
Please list their names and dates of birth below:
Name: D.O.B
Name: D.O.B
Name: D.O.B
Name: D.O.B
Any other information, to support your application:
DECLARATION: I confirm that the information provided within this application is accurate and complete for the purposes intended by the Academy to the best of my knowledge.
Signature:
Date:

Please return this form to the Academy’s Finance and Business Manager, Lesley Starkes, by any of the following channels:

  • Post: Lesley Starkes, Chapeltown Academy, Hydra Business Park, Nether Lane, Sheffield, S35 9ZX
  • Email: Please send a scanned copy to .

The deadline for applications is 9 a.m. on Monday 4th September 2017.