How to get a scholarship to a top UK private school

Simon Reid has to be one of the most generous teachers in the land. As head of Christ’s Hospital, where boarding fees start at £13,970 a term, he has approved about 700 fully funded places since his appointment in 2017; 100 pupils pay no fees at all. Reid described providing bursary-funded education as the 472-year-old’s institution’s “core purpose”.

However, he says that a triple-whammy of VAT on fees, higher employer’s national insurance payments and the axing of business rates relief will significantly reduce any private school’s ability to offer the education they once could.

Although the 20 per cent VAT charged on fees is, in theory, to be paid by parents, in reality about half the rise will be borne by the schools, many of