Discretionary Bursary
Discretionary Bursary at TUS 6th Form Academy 2024/25
What is the Discretionary Bursary?
Discretionary Bursaries are designed to help remove barriers from students’ ability to access education. It should enable the student to purchase: clothing compliant with Sixth Form dress code, transport to and from school, books, equipment etc.
Who is eligible?
A sixth former is potentially eligible for bursary if you have ever been in receipt of Free School Meals during your time at Secondary School.
How much do I get?
There are four possible payments you could receive:
| Payment | When?* | How much is possible?^ |
| TUS Dress Code Bursary | October | £50 |
| Term 1 | December | £116 (max) |
| Term 2 | April | £116 (possible bonus) |
| Term 3 | July | £116 (possible bonus) |
*on or before the end of the month.
^amount dependent on meeting the criteria.
How can I qualify for the bonus?
If students who qualify for discretionary bursary have poor attendance and punctuality, their unallocated bursary funds will go into the Bursary Bonus Pot. The money in the Bursary Bonus Pot will be shared amongst the students who have met the bursary reward criteria for the following term e.g.
Term 1 – bursary bonus pot amount = £2000
Term 2 – eligible students with 100% attendance and punctuality get their bursary payment and a share from the Term 1 Bursary Bonus Pot.
What are the eligibility criteria?
Attendance and punctuality are each weighted 50% towards your bursary amount. Your attendance band is the maximum band that you are eligible for in the punctuality portion of the bursary. This means that your punctuality band will be equal to or lower than your attendance band):
| Attendance | Punctuality | ||||
| Band 1 | 95%+ | £58.00 (100% of bursary) | Band 1 | 0-3 lates | £58.00 (100% of bursary) |
| Band 2 | 94.9% - 90% | £46.40 (80% of bursary) | Band 2 | 5-6 lates | £46.40 (80% of bursary) |
| Band 3 | 89.9% - 85% | £29.00 (50% of bursary) | Band 3 | 7 lates | £29.00 (50% of bursary) |
| Band 4 | 84.9% and below | No payment made | Band 4 | 8+ lates | No payment made |
Your total is based on your attendance and punctuality figures for that term.
What is the 16-19 Tuition Fund?
The 16 to 19 tuition fund is £96 million of one-off funding for the 2020 to 2021 academic year only. It is ring fenced funding for schools, colleges and all other 16 to 19 providers to mitigate the disruption to learning arising from coronavirus (COVID-19).
Who can be supported by this fund?
The funding is being provided to support small group tuition for students who are aged 16 to 19 in English, maths, and other courses where learning has been disrupted. For example, vocational courses where assessment has been deferred because of lockdown. Although the actual tuition does not need to be for GCSE English or maths, the students supported all need to be those who had not achieved grade 5 or above in at least one of those subjects at this level by age 16. All supported students must be on a 16 to 19 study programme. Providers should prioritise support for students who have not achieved a grade 4 in English and/or maths. Providers should prioritise students that will benefit most from small group tuition and should also have regard to the needs of students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), particularly where they have experienced additional disruption to learning as a result of their specific needs and disabilities. The funding should be used to support the tuition activity above and beyond the programmes of education already planned for 2020 to 2021.
How will The Urswick School use the funding?
- A Learning Mentor providing small groups with support in their learning across a variety of subjects
- To purchase bespoke resources for students targeted in the tuition catch up and use these to support their learning e.g. online tuition
- To run additional small group classes in maths for these students during the school day