Chair of Trustees: Rhiannon Wilkinson, Headmistress Wycombe Abbey School
Director: Andrew Boggis Student Coordinator: Tony Lawrence
Administrator: Dr Jonathan Wolstenholme
A Company Limited by Guarantee: Company No. 3636789. Registered Charity No. 1074491
From the Director: Andrew Boggis
SCHOLARSHIPS TO SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 2018
General Information for Applicants from all Countries in the Programme
The purpose of this paper is to describe the arrangements for the scholarships offered in the
United Kingdom through HMC (The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference) Projects
in Central and Eastern Europe.
You will find further details of the nature and work of HMC Projects at
www.hmc.org.uk/projects .
The Schools
The schools which award HMC Projects scholarships are almost all located throughout the
United Kingdom. These are of various types. Some are schools mainly for boarding pupils
(boys and girls who live at the school during the school terms). Other schools have some
boarders but consist mainly of day pupils. Scholarship students from Central and Eastern
Europe take up boarding places in their schools. Additionally two British International Schools
have offered scholarships, one in Switzerland and one in Madrid, Spain.
Many of the schools are coeducational, but some take only girls and others take only boys.
We allocate students to the most suitable schools taking account of particular talents. All the
schools within the Programme have been selected because they are regarded as entirely
suitable and because they are seen to be likely to offer a very valuable experience to the
students who are their guests.
Sixth Form Scholarship Programmes
There are two parallel programmes:
Full Scholarship Programme
Just under 60 students from 14 countries won full scholarships in 2017. The scholarship
awarded by your school covers the cost of your tuition and also your accommodation and
food and other basic requirements. To be eligible to apply your parents’/family income during
2017 must not exceed the equivalent of £30,000.
Reduced Fee Scholarship Programme
35 students won reduced fee scholarships in 2017. Fees charged ranged from £5000 to
£8500 per annum.
Opportunity, Challenge, Commitment
You have already been enterprising in asking for details of the HMC Projects Scholarships.
Imagine now that you win a scholarship! What would it really involve? Will the benefits match
all the uncertainty and upheaval? Should you accept the scholarship?
Inevitably, some features of British schools will be very different from your school. For the
year to be a success you will need to be adaptable and willing to accept your school’s
arrangements. The most important differences are as follows:-
1. You will be living away from home. Many of you will have been on student outings or
camps away from home, but with your friends and in the knowledge that life will soon
be returning to normal. Coming to the UK, and realising that you will not be seeing
your parents for two to four months, you may well feel homesick. For a start the food
will be different! Many students do miss their homes at first, but quite quickly they
make friends and enjoy having the company of other young people for much of the
time. How do you think that you would cope?
2. Once you arrive at the school you will be in the care of the school staff at all times
when the school is in session. Students live in boarding houses. The houses are
usually for boys only or for girls only. In your house there will probably be about thirty
to forty or fifty other students, perhaps aged 13 to 18, perhaps all sixth formers. Most
students will share a room with another student and usually this will be the place
where they not only sleep but do their work and keep their personal belongings,
clothes, books and other items. Most schools will expect their boarders to take their
share in certain communal responsibilities within their houses. For young people who
have always lived at home it takes some time to become accustomed to this situation.
If you have no brothers and sisters you will be used to making your own noise at
home but not to having to put up with the noise created by others – let alone forty
others!
3. In charge of your house, there will be a House Parent (Housemaster or
Housemistress), assisted by a House Tutor and a House Matron. You will find that
your House Parent will attach great importance to the rules established for the House
and will ask that you respect and obey them. A typical rule would be that students will
be expected to be in their own rooms by a particular time at night and will be required
to be quiet so that others may sleep. Another rule will be that students are not
allowed to smoke. Students in boarding schools are not normally permitted to seek
or obtain paid employment outside school.
At home it is not usually necessary to make rules of this sort and they may well be
more detailed and prescriptive than in your present school. Our experience is that
these rules do not usually create difficulties for students, but we must emphasise that
students need to be willing to accept them. They are made to enable everyone to fit
in together and to make it as easy as possible to ensure that all the students are safe
and happy. Schools do not, of course, allow the use of illegal drugs.
If you do not think you could accept such rules, then the year would not be right for
you, as such tensions can only cause unhappiness for you and for the school.
4. In most schools students wear a uniform during teaching hours and for special
occasions. Typically this might be a grey suit for boys or a grey sweater and skirt for
girls but schools will send full information about this to those who are selected for
scholarships and there is no need for parents to spend much money on these items
before your departure.
5. An important difference is that you will specialise in far fewer academic subjects. This
applies to all the present examination systems in the UK – A Levels, the IB
(International Baccalaureate), Scottish Highers and Advanced Highers and the
Cambridge Pre-University Examination. Students usually concentrate on four or
possibly five main subjects (from a range of fifteen to twenty different possibilities),
plus a subsidiary subject and/or a general studies course. For example, a student
wanting to specialise in Science or Medicine might take Mathematics (and perhaps
Further Mathematics), Physics, Biology and Chemistry as the main subjects. Another
combination might be German, History, French and Economics as the main
subjects…
A word of warning: English will mean English Literature; it will not mean English
Language - stop and think why! (British students speak English already…!)
In other words, HMC Projects scholars will study a smaller number of subjects and in
greater depth than you would have done at home. The consequence is that you will
think more deeply about the subject, rather than just study to absorb information. Of
fundamental importance is the fact that you will be speaking, listening, reading and
writing in English all the time, so that your command of English will develop
enormously during your time in the UK. Your new school will want to know which
subjects you would like to study and will supply full information for that purpose. We
are happy to advise as necessary.
6. Whereas most schools in your countries aim to provide only teaching in the academic
subjects, British boarding schools offer a wide range of other activities through which
students can develop their talents and acquire new skills. You can expect high
standards and excellent facilities in Music, Drama and Sport. It is crucially important
that you explore these opportunities for personal recreation and development. It is
the easiest and quickest way of making friends with fellow students. Remember too
that you will be in school during weekends, when there will be few classes to attend
and many hours to fill. Students who give most to their boarding communities and to
the sporting and cultural life of their schools gain most from all the opportunities that
their schools offer them.
In other words, there will be much more to life than simply working hard – although
that is obviously important! You should also be able to enjoy yourselves and be
happy in the company around you. That way, you will take home lasting friendships
and an enduring reminder of your time in Britain.
7. The Scholarship is intended to be for two years and you should not apply if you want
to spend only one year in the UK. In principle this is a two-year programme:
scholarships and reduced fee scholarships will generally be for two years, renewable
for the second year on the same or similar terms. It should be noted that schools do,
however, reserve the right to withdraw a scholarship from any scholar if they fail to
perform to the high standards expected, both academically and socially. The two-
year programme allows scholars to complete their education in the UK and to apply
for a wide variety of universities across Europe. Schools will expect scholars to
demonstrate high academic performance and make a valuable contribution to school
life. There is no absolute requirement for scholars to stay on for a second year, but
schools will be expecting this. Many former scholars have then gone on to university
in the UK. However the scholarship does not carry with it the opportunity to study at a
British university. You should find out from local universities and from your own
current school which examinations or courses of study (if any) will be necessary if you
are to resume studies at home without disadvantage when you return. Studying at
university in the UK is very expensive in terms of both tuition and living costs.
Before applying, and certainly before accepting, make sure that you have researched
this fully, with an eye to your own academic and career aspirations. (Bear in mind
that these might change after a year or two in the UK!)
Journey to the UK, the Orientation course in Cambridge and travelling to your School
Not all schools start the school year on the same day; there can be up to two weeks’
difference. We expect that most Scholars will travel to the UK on or around Friday 31 st August
2018, but a few of you will be at schools which start earlier. We shall confirm exact dates at a
later stage.
You will be met at the airport and taken to Fitzwilliam College Cambridge for three days for a
short Orientation Course. We make special arrangements for those whose school terms start
before then to travel to Cambridge from their schools.
The Orientation Course is the one occasion in the year when all the students on the
programmes gather in one place together with the members of HMC Projects. Mr Tony
Lawrence, our Scholars’ Co-ordinator, will explain his key role in helping students during their
time in Britain. We explain also the ways in which the schools function and you will have the
opportunity to ask your own questions.
At the end of the course careful arrangements are made for you to travel on to your school.
You will be fully informed as to how to make the journey and who will meet you on arrival.
If you are not able to attend the Orientation Course we shall see that you are fully briefed
before you travel to the UK.
The Shape of the School Year
The school year in Britain is usually divided into three terms, with holidays at Christmas,
Easter and in the summer. The school will ensure that you know the arrangements for
travelling home and returning to Britain after the Christmas and Easter holidays. You will not
remain in Britain during these holidays unless your school agrees to this and your parents
have also given permission, made the necessary arrangements and communicated these to
the School. It is not possible to stay at your school during the holiday periods.
In addition, most schools close for a half-term break in the middle of the term. The length of
this break will vary from school to school – from a few days to a maximum of two weeks - and
at these times a ‘Contact Person’ appointed by the school will assume responsibility for
making suitable arrangements for you during the half-term break. This member of staff will
contact your parents to ensure that they agree with these half-term arrangements. (Parents
are occasionally able to nominate family friends or relatives to act as guardians but this is not
usually feasible.)
Accepting a Scholarship is a Commitment
We like to think that we are good at selecting the right scholars!
We do our best to choose students who, in addition to being very good indeed in their
academic studies, are sociable, adaptable, interesting and interested in other people
and in ideas; they need to have charm and, above all, be ready to give of themselves to
their new communities.
Please re-read and think very carefully about that sentence! We are looking for students who
understand and who will live out former President J F Kennedy’s famous remark: “Ask not
what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”. For “country” read
“school”!
In this document we have tried to draw attention to some of the human realities involved in an
HMC Projects scholarship. Each year we know that a few students apply for the scholarship
mainly because they see it mainly as a prize to be won, but they have not given much, if any,
thought to the personal challenges that will face them. Such students will not be selected.
Please don't forget that if you are offered and you accept a scholarship, which gives
you the opportunity of studying in the Sixth Form at a school in the UK, then this
means that someone else is not going to have that opportunity. We shall expect you to
make a success of this opportunity academically and socially and to take a leading
part in some of the huge array of extra-curricular activities offered by UK boarding
schools.
You owe it to yourself, but also to your competitors, to be honest with yourself. You will be
moving out of your own ‘comfort zone’. If you know that you would find it personally very
difficult to adjust to all the differences that I have mentioned, including especially that of living
away from home, then you should not proceed.
Since the HMC Projects Scholarships started in 1992 there have been over seventeen
hundred scholars. For the vast majority it has been a wonderfully positive, fulfilling and
enjoyable experience – because they have embraced the opportunities and the
challenges with enthusiasm and commitment.
Could you win a scholarship?
Are you bright, able, adaptable, different, ambitious, interesting?
Do you have consistently excellent school grades?
Do you have a very good command of English, spoken and written?
Are you a self-starter?
Could you not only cope, but thrive in a new environment, away from home, immersed in a
different approach to learning?
Could you contribute to your new school academically, socially, culturally, in the arts, in
sports? Will you inspire others in the classroom?
Are you ready to make new, lifelong friends?
Would you be a great ambassador for your own country?
If you can answer yes to all these questions, then apply….!
I hope that this paper has been helpful for you. Please read it carefully, along with the
complementary document, Information for the Parents of Applicants 2018.
Andrew Boggis
Director HMC Projects
April 2017
