Our mission at The Purcell School is to provide young musicians who demonstrate the potential to become exceptional (irrespective of background) with outstanding teaching within a supportive school environment and to equip them with the self-confidence, adaptability, maturity and perspective to sustain their professional development and personal fulfilment throughout their lives.
We aim to remove the financial barrier to a student’s specialist music education through the means-tested bursaries we offer – the Government’s Music and Dance Scheme (MDS) for UK residents and the School Bursary Fund for international students.
A summary of fees, as well as information relating to both the MDS Scheme and the School’s Bursary Fund, can be found below. For further information or queries about our fees, please contact admissions@purcell-school.org.
Summary of Fees
School fees from September 2023:
| Annual | Termly | |
| Boarding | £39,708 | £13,236 |
| Day | £31,098 | £10,366 |
There are two principal ways in which the School enables financial assistance with fees. They are as follows:
Music and Dance Scheme
The vast majority of our UK students (approximately 80%) do not pay full fees, and some pay nothing at all. This is made possible for UK residents by the Department for Education’s Music & Dance Scheme (MDS) which is means-tested.
In order to be eligible for the Scheme in September 2024, the student applying must have been resident in the UK from 1st January 2022 to 31st December 2023.
The table below gives an indication of approximately how much parents will be asked to pay but, as a guide, if the gross household income is less than £15,000 a year, parents will pay nothing towards the school fees. There is a sliding scale for contributions towards fees, based on the household income, in between these figures.
Approximate fee contributions for MDS students:
| Gross Family Income/Annum | Annual Contribution to be made by Parent | |
| Day | Boarding | |
| £10,000 | £0 | £0 |
| £15,000 | £0 | £93 |
| £20,000 | £333 | £567 |
| £25,000 | £888 | £1,152 |
| £30,000 | £1,443 | £1,809 |
| £35,000 | £1,998 | £2,475 |
| £40,000 | £2,553 | £3,279 |
| £45,000 | £3,108 | £4,086 |
| £50,000 | £3,678 | £4,938 |
| £55,000 | £4,284 | £5,892 |
| £60,000 | £5,028 | £6,846 |
| £70,000 | £6,558 | £8,766 |
| £80,000 | £8,166 | £10,776 |
| £100,000 | £11,338 | £14,964 |
| £120,000 | £14,607 | £19,185 |
| £150,000 | £19,437 | £25,515 |
| £185,000 | £25,071 | £32,901 |
| £190,000 | £25,878 | £33,954 |
| £195,000 | £26,682 | £39,708 (full fees) |
| £200,000 | £31,098 (full fees) | £39,708 (full fees) |
School Bursary Fund
Students who are not eligible for the Music and Dance Scheme in September 2024 – namely students who have not been resident in the UK from 1st January 2022 to 31st December 2023 – can apply for financial assistance from the School’s own Bursary Fund.
This is a limited bursary fund, with the level of bursary offered to students varying according to their financial circumstances (means-tested) and also to the number of applications we receive. Please note that the maximum bursary we may currently offer to students from this fund is up to 50%.
Please note that the income and parental contributions outlined in the above table refer only to the MDS scheme and not to the School Bursary Fund.
If you wish to apply to the School’s Bursary Fund, please state this in your application.
If you would like to any further information about applications to our School Bursary Fund, please contact us at admissions@purcell-school.org.
