St Peters Catholic High School & Sixth Form Centre          16-19 Bursary Policy 2011-12

 

From September 2011 the Government introduced a Bursary Fund to provide support for sixth form students from poorer backgrounds. This replaces Educational Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) which had similar objectives.

 

This policy is applicable for the academic year 2011/12 only; a revised policy will be developed for the 2012/13 year. It is based on advice provided by the Young PeopleÕs Learning Agency and sets out how the School will administer and distribute these funds and is divided into the following sections:

 

1               Eligibility

2               Applications and Assessment

3               Payments

4               Appeals

5               Fraud

 

The School recognises that offering support to students from poorer backgrounds requires sensitivity and respect for all those concerned. Information relating to applications will be treated confidentially.

 

1               Eligibility

 

Bursaries are intended to support those students who are struggling with the costs for their studies;  three groups of students are eligible to apply.

 

1.              Students in Year 12 or 13 who are in care, care leavers, in receipt of income support and young people receiving Employment Support Allowance who are also in receipt of Disability Living Allowance. These students will be given the highest priority and will receive a bursary of £1,200 a year.

2.              Students in Year 12 who are not eligible under category 1 but who are currently in receipt of Free School Meals will receive a bursary of £500 per year.

3.              Students who are not eligible under either category 1 or 2 may apply for a grant of up to £200 per student. There will be one application window for the current academic year which will be in October 2011. The grant applications must be received using the St PeterÕs 16-19 grant application form available from the 6th Form office, by the closing date for the application window of October 18th 2011.  A panel made up of senior school staff and governors will review all grant applications and will communicate their decision to all applicants within two weeks of the closing date.

 

Students eligible to receive a bursary or grant must be aged under 19 on the 31st of August in the academic year in which they start their programme of study.

 

Students previously in receipt of EMA, proceeding to year 13 may also be entitled to additional support in exceptional circumstances.

 

2                        Applications and Assessment

 

The School will make every effort to ensure that all those students entitled to bursaries receive such support. All students coming into the Sixth Form will receive information about bursaries.  

 

Students will be asked to provide evidence of their household income e.g. notice of benefit received from the Department of Work and Pensions.

 

All applications for category 1 and 2 should be received by the Head of Sixth Form by October 6th and students will be informed of the result of their applications within two weeks of this date. Payments to successful claimants will be backdated to September 5th.  If circumstances change students for category 1 and 2 can make applications later in the academic year. In this case payment of claims can be backdated for up to 28 days.

 

Students will be entitled to appeal against any decision taken by the School. The appeals process is outlined in section 4 of this document.

 

3                        Payments

 

Payments to students for category 1 and 2 will be made on a monthly basis by BACS transfer for that period of time that a student remains on their course and meets the following requirements for

 

                  Attendance –95% unless exceptional circumstances

                  Behaviour – no negative SIMS reports each week

                  Handing in Work – all relevant deadlines met

 

Should any student fail to meet these requirements the school reserves the right to withhold bursary payments for each week for which requirements have not been met. Similarly if students leave school before the end of the academic year they will only receive payments for that the time that they attended the sixth form.

 

Students entitled to bursaries joining courses later in the academic year will receive a pro-rata allocation.

 

Payment to students of grants will be made either by cheque or BACS transfer.

 

Students must open a bank account as payments will be made from the school directly to their accounts.  Any student faced with difficulties in opening a bank account should immediately contact the Head of Sixth Form.

 

4                        Appeals

 

Students are entitled to appeal against decisions made in relation to their application for a bursary or grant or for the withholding of payments. They should first raise their concerns with the Head of Sixth Form. If this fails to resolve any differences they should write to the Headteacher who, together with the Vice Chair of Governors, will review the appeal.

 

5                        Fraud

 

Fraudulent claims for bursary allocations will be referred to the Police. Students found to make fraudulent claims will be required to refund all payments received and will be expelled from the school.

 

 

Approved by the Governors of St PeterÕs Catholic High School & Sixth Form Centre

October 3rd 2011