Scholarships & Bursaries

All these scholarships are held in February or March of the year of entry.

 It is Canford's policy to encourage excellence and to enable pupils to come to the school who, without the assistance of a scholarship, would not be able to do so. In accordance with the agreement of the majority of HMC schools, no award or combination of awards will exceed 50% of the fees. All Canford's scholarships are indexed as a percentage of the fees so that their relative value remains constant throughout the scholar's school career.

Academic Scholarships

A number of scholarships, ranging from 50% to 10% of the fees.  Winners of these will not be required to sit the Common Entrance examination. Candidates for Academic Scholarships who do not win awards but who perform satisfactorily in the examinations will not be required to sit the Common Entrance Examination.

Candidates for all other scholarships must qualify academically for entry into Canford either via the Common Entrance Examination or Canford's own Entrance Tests for those at schools not offering Common Entrance.

Armed Forces Scholarships

Two scholarships at 13+, each worth not less than 20% of the fees, to be awarded to the highest placed academic and non-academic award winners who are children of serving members of the British Armed Forces.

Music Scholarships

A number of scholarships and exhibitions, ranging from 50% to 10% of the fees. Each award carries free tuition on two instruments.

Jubilee Art Scholarships, Design Technology Scholarships and Drama Scholarships

For each category, one scholarship of 20% or two scholarships of 10%.

Sports Scholarships

A number of scholarships ranging from 50% to 10% of the fees.

Brochures and Entry Forms

Brochures and entry forms with the specific dates applying to a given year are available from the Admissions Office from the May prior to the event.

Past Papers

Copies of past academic scholarship papers are supplied to Preparatory Schools whose pupils are registered for the year in question.

Scholarship Dates

To view forthcoming scholarship dates, click here

Conditions

In all cases the Governors reserve the right to determine the number and value of scholarships to be awarded. All scholarships are tenable with effect from the September of the year in which they are awarded. They are renewable annually and are held throughout a pupil's career at Canford on the recommendation of the Headmaster.

These Scholarships for boarding and day vacancies are held in November of the year before admission.

Candidates may enter separately for any combination of Canford's Sixth Form Scholarships.

All Canford's scholarships are indexed as a percentage of the fees so that their relative value remains constant throughout the scholar's school career. In accordance with the agreement between all HMC schools, the results of these scholarships are not announced until 1st December after the examinations. 

Academic Scholarships of differing values are available up to a maximum of 50% of the fees. Candidates should be expecting to secure predominantly A* and A grades at GCSE.

All candidates will take the following written papers: English, Maths, and Reasoning.

All candidates will also be asked to offer two of the following optional subjects (preferably subjects which they propose to do at AS or A2 level).

Art*, Biology*, Chemistry*, Classical Civilisation, Design*, Drama*, Economics*, English*, French, Geography*, German, History, Latin, Maths, Physics*, RS, Spanish.

These will be designed to measure potential and assessment will be either by written test or by interview (*). There will also be other general and academic interviews for all candidates. Specimen written papers are available on request. 

Music Scholarships of differing values are available up to a maximum of 50% of the fees.

Assyrian Scholarships of differing values are available up to a maximum of 40% of the fees.   For the academic element of this award, candidates must offer either the Academic Scholarship or the Canford Entrance Tests.

Overseas Candidates

Candidates unable to attend the Academic Scholarship may submit written papers by arrangement during the first half of November.  For other scholarships attendance at Canford is required.

Brochure and Entry Forms

A leaflet with the specific dates applying to a given year is available during the twelve months prior to the event.

Sample Papers

These are available on request from the Admissions Office.

Scholarship Dates

To view forthcoming scholarship dates, click here

Bursaries (means-tested fee discounts) are available and may cover up to 100% of the fees and extras.  

To view the Bursaries Outline click here.  The Admissions staff will be happy to answer further questions about the Bursaries scheme. Please contact them on (01202) 847207.

To view a copy of the full Bursaries policy, please see the Further Information/Policies section of this site.

For information on our school fees please click here

Please click on the links below for sample downloads of scholarship examinations.  To save the file to your computer, please right click on the link and 'save target as'.  The files are 'wma' (Windows Media Audio) format.

13+ French oral scholarship tests  

- Section 2 Ex.1 Nos.1-5

- Section 2 Ex.2 Nos.6-11

- Section 2 Ex.3 Nos.12-16

- Section 3 Ex.1 Nos.1-7

- Section 3 Ex.2 Nos.8-14

- Section 3 Ex.3 Nos.15-20

If you have any problems downloading the files, please do not hesitate to contact the Admissions office.