School Placements
Partnerships with state boarding and independent schools to support targeted bursary award schemes for children who are vulnerable or who come from under-served communities
Partnerships with boarding and independent day schools to target bursary award schemes.
A national programme that provides opportunities for care-experienced young people and children living in areas of deprivation to secure a fully-funded bursary award at one of our 250+ partner boarding and independent schools.
Working in partnership with community organisations, state school partners and Local Authorities, we provide help for children and young people and their families and carers to explore, apply for, and succeed in securing a place at a boarding or independent school – ordinarily at the natural school transition points of 11yrs and 16yrs.
Eligibility and suitability for our school bursary access scheme applications are determined through our partnerships with referral and support organisations. These organisations are critical to ensuring that we can support schools to focus their bursary awards for young people living in an area where there are few good/outstanding educational options, where there are significant barriers to accessing opportunities, and/or who are vulnerable (e.g. given children’s social care involvement, young carer responsibilities etc.). The partners remain closely connected to young people as they navigate their bursary placements – providing crucial support in the holidays and at key transition points.
Accredited Schools Network
We work in partnership with more than 250 schools across the UK – state boarding, independent (senior and prep) boarding and independent day schools. Our accreditation approach to partnership focuses on three key areas:
Pastoral Care: Ensuring widespread awareness across the school community of attachment- and trauma-informed practice
Best Practice: Common understanding across schools’ staff of the issues that can face transformational bursary award holders, and commitment to sharing of resources and guidance
Financial Commitment: Given the RNCSF eligibility criteria determines all SpringBoarders as being from low-income households, the award holders supported through our partnerships are all on “110%” support – all fees are covered, as well as a budget set aside for essential extras such as uniforms, defined trips etc.
Accreditation acts as a kitemark standard to assure potential pupils, their parents/carers and referring professionals, that the challenges that young people from different backgrounds might face in a bursary placement are well understood and that there is a consistency in how these are navigated.
Information for Accredited Schools
STEER
Through our pro-bono support partnership with STEER, accredited schools gain access to rich data to monitor SpringBoarders’ social, emotional and mental health. Pastoral teams use this to ensure that all the staff involved in the care for SpringBoarders are appropriately trained, and to support pupils in opening up and trusting others
Attachment Aware Trauma Informed Practice
Our partnership with Anewarc provides access for accredited schools to a bespoke audit, training and whole-school improvement programme in how to embed relational practices and attachment-aware and trauma informed approaches. We are also members of the Trauma Informed, Attachment Aware Roundtable Group, facilitated by ARC. This collaborative network brings together organisations committed to embedding trauma-informed and attachment-aware approaches in practice, ensuring children and young people feel safe, supported, and able to succeed.
Anti-Racism work
The RNCSF Anti-Racism Charter – developed by our Youth Advisory Panel - provides a framework for developing an anti-racist approach. Our aim is to ensure every SpringBoarder feels heard, supported, and empowered to help shape inclusive school cultures.
We support all the schools in our network to foster a culture and environment in which disclosures of incidents of racism and discrimination can be safely made. We also have an anonymised reporting tool which pupils can use to report incidents directly to us. We encourage our pupils to provide details so that we can follow up with their schools and make sure that appropriate support is in place.
Belonging in Education Network
We are proud to be a member of the Belonging in Education Network, led by the Rees Centre at the University of Oxford. The Rees Centre is dedicated to producing research and evidence that helps practitioners and policymakers improve children’s social care and educational outcomes. Through this network, we contribute to a shared commitment to ensuring all children and young people feel valued, supported, and able to thrive in education. They were also our evaluation partners for the Cultivating Connection report.
Becoming an Accredited School
By joining our network, you become part of a community of schools committed to improving access and inclusion. We aim to make accreditation as straightforward as possible by building on your school’s existing good practice and encouraging reflection on the adjustments that can help full bursary award holders thrive.
For more information, contact: schools@royalspringboard.org.uk
Big Ideas, Real Impact
Each year our Schools Conference encourages the wide sharing of expertise and experiences of conditions for success in transformational bursary award schemes.
Our Partners
Our partnerships with community charities and state schools in areas where there are barriers to opportunity are essential to our model. We work closely with partners to support the careful identification, preparation, transition and wraparound care and support to applicants for our school bursary partnerships scheme.
Interested in becoming involved as a referring partner organisation? Click here
Are you a local authority social care professional interested in considering a school bursary application for a young person? Click here
RNCSF Learning Hub
Our monthly RNCSF Learning Hub provides the opportunity for deeper discussion on particular themes. Our regional hubs promote the sharing of knowledge and networking across schools in each region.
If you are an Accredited school and wish to join please email us here.