My sons get £600k private school education for FREE

AS THEY opened the heavy envelope in their council house, Irina Spilcak and Ali Bou Auda couldn’t contain their excitement.

The couple didn’t know a private education was even possible for their sons Aaron and Farris – but now they’d be learning alongside children from some of Britain’s richest families for FREE. We explain just how they did it.

“I wanted to give my children the chance to learn and study and have opportunities that I didn’t have,” says social worker Irina, 55.

Farris, 18, has just left Radley College in Oxfordshire, where fees top £20,000 a term, for university, and Aaron, 13, is in his first year at the prestigious school.

Living in a housing association flat in Maida Vale, North London, Irina and Ali, 65, could never have afforded the exclusive education themselves.

Instead, Farris and Aaron were both awarded Keys’ Awards by the school – scholarships specifically for pupils from state schools which cover 100 per cent of the fees.

Over both boys’ time at Radley, the award will be worth around £600,000 and will have given them an education that Irina and Ali could only dream of.

Through the awards, Radley tries to attract ‘talented and ambitious’ state school students from families who would not normally consider boarding school.

Around 150 of its 770 pupils get help with fees, while 39 from state schools have a Keys Award, for excelling in areas including academics, music, sport or drama, and pay little to no fees.

The school may also fund extras such as uniform and school trips.

Radley, which counts former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss and late actor Peter Cook among its alumni, is not alone in offering places to children from less wealthy backgrounds.

Almost 200,000 pupils at independent schools – just over a third – get help with their fees, according to the Independent Schools Council, which represents more than 1,400 schools.

While Radley cuts fees if your child is a budding sports star, musician or brainbox, other schools give bursaries to ambitious and eager kids who are clever enough to make the grade, but where families would struggle to foot the bill.

Bursaries are always means tested and families’ finances are raked over to make sure the funds only go to those who really need the financial support.

I don’t feel different at school despite being on a scholarship

Aaron, who is about to complete his first term at Radley, said he doesn’t feel different to the other children, even though he is on a scholarship.

He said: “I was nervous because I came from state school, was on a bursary and I’m surrounded by people from rich backgrounds.

“But I definitely fit. We all learn from each other in different ways.” 

Aaron is an all-rounder and is doing well in the classroom and on the sports field.

He said: “I love it here. I love being really active and it’s great that I get to do all the things I want to do, like rugby. I try to do as many different things as possible.

“I’ve learnt squash and other sports I wouldn’t have got the chance to do. Next term I am going to try rowing, which I never could have dreamt of.”

There are high expectations on him as an academic scholar, which can be hard, he admits, but support is available.

“It’s great having teachers who care a lot about you. If you don’t understand something, they give you individual help.”

The leg-up means that children whose families struggle with day-to-day costs can learn alongside those who’ve never had to worry about money.

Irina and Ali were “on cloud nine” when they got the letter to say their boys had received the awards.

Ali, originally from Morocco, arrived on a Government scholarship scheme in the 1980s, while Lithuanian Irina came to learn English in 2003.

She is now a social worker, having studied in the evening for a degree and master’s in child psychology, graduating with a first, while also working at a children’s centre.

With Ali no longer able to work for health reasons, Irina’s £40,000 a year salary is the family’s only income.

Irina says: “There is no way we could have afforded even half the amount that people pay for Radley.”

It was Ali who first started looking into schools that might offer Farris a bursary after he excelled academically at his state primary school in Camden.

He had heard about free places at top private schools when he first came to the UK.

Ali says: “I thought to myself, ‘Why not?’ Bursaries are available if you search for them and they offer such an amazing opportunity.

“We had to make the best for our boys who we felt both had a lot to offer.

“We made inquiries, approached all the schools and arranged to visit an open day.

“We went to Radley in spring time and we just fell in love with it. The daffodils were out and it was green and beautiful.”

To secure their awards, both boys had to pass the school entrance exams, have interviews with staff and the family’s finances were pored over, looking at everything from income, loans, rent and even holidays.

Ali says: “They asked us for all our income details, our financial situation in general and we supplied all the documents, everything including house bills.

“We have to resubmit that information every year.”

The college, with its 800 acres of grounds and amazing sports facilities, only takes pupils from Year Nine – two years later than state secondary schools.

Its admissions team helped the family get 90% scholarship at other private schools before joining Radley College when they were 13.

Farris went to Thomas’s School in Battersea, London, while Aaron went to Cothill House in Oxfordshire, which is now linked to Radley College.

Farris left Radley last year and is now studying Aviation and Aeronautics at the University of Southampton, while Aaron started at the school last September.

Irina says: “I was worried about how both boys would fit in because we are quite poor and they are living and studying with children from quite rich families. You don’t know how that will work.

“I worried “Will he settle? Will he make friends?” but both boys have been very integrated into the school, and we have been welcomed as a family.”

Aaron’s scholarship for academics covers all tuition and boarding fees and he gets a £200 a term allowance towards music lessons and his school uniform.

Irina says they have had two holidays in the last 15 years, but adds: “That is the sacrifice we make for our children to have a better future than we did.”

Getting the support for their sons has been life-changing, says Ali.

“We were over the moon when we got the letters from the headmaster offering Aaron and Farris funded places.

“We are forever grateful. It is a huge amount of money.

“Parents don’t always know this help is available, but it can be life-changing, and we hope it will be for our boys.”