Questor Bursaries

To apply for a Questor Bursary

To improve your chances of making a successful application please read the guidelines below before applying for a bursary.

Click HERE for link to Bursary Application Form and HERE for Frequently Asked Questions.

Why our Questor bursaries exist.

The Trust offers bursaries to children and young people from low or lower-income families who have the potential for high attainment (possibly though not necessarily academically) but who are not achieving at the level they could reach and cannot afford to take part in activities that:

enable them to learn new things and to try new challenges
enable them to explore existing interests or mastery of skills in greater depth
encourage them to make new friends and have new experiences

What is High Learning Potential?

Different people may know this by different names such as ‘gifted and talented’. However, we define children and young people who have High Learning Potential as those who have one or more of the following attributes:

exceptional abilities
the ability to attain highly (though not necessarily academically) but who, for whatever reason are not attaining at the level they could reach
dual or multiple exceptionalities (the potential for high attainment together with a special educational need or disability)

However, we also recognise that many children or young people (or their parents or teachers) do not know if they have High Learning Potential, so looking at characteristics such as those listed below can help:

Learns rapidly
Extensive vocabulary
Excellent memory
Reasons well
Strong curiosity
Compassion for others
Vivid imagination
Long attention span
Concern with justice and fairness
Emotionally sensitive
High energy level
Perfectionist
Questions authority

Perseverance in interests
Wide range of interests
Good at puzzles
Ability with numbers
Judgement mature at times
A pronounced sense of the ridiculous
A quirky or grown-up sense of humour
Intense
Morally sensitive
Prefers company of older children and/or adults
Keen observer
Early or avid reader
Highly creative

If your child displays a significant number of these characteristics, they may very well have High Learning Potential and we believe that they would benefit from an activity which enables them to explore, challenge and make new friends.

Our funding restrictions

Families asking for bursaries must be UK resident.
Bursaries should be for events organised by a UK-based provider, which can include on-line events.
Bursaries are not offered retrospectively for events already paid for.
Bursaries are not offered for help with school fees.
Bursaries are not offered for ongoing private tuition fees for activities (eg piano lessons), but funding for a short-term ‘taster session’ may be considered.
The maximum amount awarded is normally £250 – any significant exceptions will need to be approved by at least two Trustees.
Funding is not normally offered for more than 80% of the cost of the event(s) which a Questor bursary is applied for.

How do we apply for a Questor bursary?

BEFORE completing and sending an application form: If possible please phone the Trust (01844 351666) so we can discuss the possibility and amount of a bursary.

If you send us an email about a bursary application: Please put child’s name and surname in the subject box of any emails you send as we file bursary emails by name of child.

If you have any concerns about the event(s) organaniser’s safeguarding and child protection poliicy: Please check the NSPCC’s recommendations for what a good safeguarding policy should include when considering activities for your child. Click here for further details: https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/safeguarding-child-protection

QUESTOR BURSARY APPLICATION FORM

When will we know whether we have been awarded a Questor bursary?

For most families an application starts with a phone call to the Trust to talk through the application process and this will give a good indication of whether a bursary will be approved. Once the value of a bursary been agreed you will be sent an email to confirm this, with a copy sent to the event provider so they know how much you will need to pay when you contact them to make your booking (they will invoice the Trust for the bursary amount).

Bursaries – I have a question…

Once you have received an email confirming the bursary, contact the provider (who should have received a copy of the email) and make your booking.

If the bursary is for a maximum amount towards a list of events but it does not cover all the events your Questor is interested in, please make sure you book ONLY those the bursary enables you to afford.

If the provider has told you that places are filling fast, phone them and ask if they could hold a provisional place while you negotiate a bursary with the Trust (most of the providers we have worked with before are willing to do this).

You can apply for funding for more than one event from the same provider (especially in the case of the Royal Institution summer school 1-day events) but should put these in order of preference, NOT in date order. We start from the top of your list and may be unable to offer bursaries for all the events applied for.

Questors are normally limited to one bursary during a 12-month period.

We’re sorry to hear that and we’re aware that you probably have a very disappointed Questor so please contact us to tell us:

the name and surname of your Questor
the name and date of the event(s)
the reason your Questor didn’t participate
whether there another event your Questor would like to try and book instead (please give name of event, date, and cost)
or whether you would prefer us to hold your funding over until next year

If you are having serious difficulty in paying the additional cost, use this link to CONTACT US and give us the name of your Questor, the name and date of the event, the original price, the amount of the bursary awarded – and the new price. We can’t promise to be able to help, but we will see what we can do

If this is a significant amount and you can afford to do so, we would be very grateful if you could donate some or all of it back to the Trust to help more Questors to benefit from the bursaries we award. If you would like to make a donation please click here or if you would like to discuss this further please contact us.

Thank you for being so honest with us. Our Questors bursary scheme helps children and young people with High Learning Potential to participate in events the family would not otherwise be able to afford. If you would like to donate all or some of the amount of the bursary back to the Trust we will use it to offer a bursary to another family. Please click here and contact us if you would like to discuss this further.

Although we have never received a complaint since the Trust was set up in 1984, no-one can predict the future. If you have a complaint about the Trust itself or about an event for which we have provided a Questors bursary we want to hear about it as soon as possible and we will do our best to deal with it quickly, fairly, efficiently, and effectively – and to use it constructively in planning and improving all our services.