A bursary file in six envelopes
Bursary applications for next September close in January. Each family completes a long form about household income and circumstances, and supports it with documents: tax returns or P60s, bank statements, mortgage or rent statements, benefit letters, sometimes accounts for a family business. The form is a PDF. Some families print it, some fill it on screen, some post a thick envelope, some email twenty attachments in four emails.
The bursary assistant opens each attachment, renames it, files it in a folder, and ticks a spreadsheet. Missing documents are chased by email. By the committee date, several files are still incomplete, and the committee's papers are assembled by hand from folders.
Sensitive documents, handled like ordinary email
Bursary applications contain some of the most sensitive information a school holds about a family. Yet the process for collecting it is usually ordinary email, which means documents sitting in inboxes, forwarded between staff, and hard to delete when retention periods end.
- Documents arrive by email, post and hand delivery.
- Attachments are renamed and filed by hand.
- Missing documents are tracked in a spreadsheet.
- Sensitive files sit in personal inboxes.
- Committee papers are assembled manually from folders.
What the attachment pile costs
Days of administrative time each application round. Incomplete files that delay decisions, leaving families uncertain about whether they can accept a place. Sensitive information spread across inboxes, which is a data protection risk for the school. And committee members receiving papers in inconsistent formats.
How bursaries are assessed and awarded is decided by your bursary policy and committee, sometimes with an external assessment service. What we build handles the collection and organisation around that.
The bursary portal we build
- Families complete the bursary form online through a secure link, saving and returning as they gather information.
- The form shows a checklist of documents based on their answers, for example a family business adds a request for accounts.
- Documents are uploaded against each checklist item and stored in secure storage the school controls, not in email.
- The bursary team sees each application's completeness at a glance, and families with missing items get reminders.
- Staff can add notes and questions for the family, who respond through the portal.
- When a file is complete, it is marked ready for assessment and, if you use an external assessor, can be passed to them in the format they require.
- The committee receives a consistent summary for each application, and decisions are recorded against the file.
- Files are deleted or archived according to your retention policy.
| Step | Before | With the portal |
|---|---|---|
| Application form | PDF by post or email | Online, saved as they go |
| Supporting documents | Attachments in several emails | Uploaded to a checklist |
| Tracking what is missing | Spreadsheet | Checklist per application |
| Committee papers | Assembled by hand | Consistent summary per file |
| Retention | Hard to be sure | Applied by rule |
A complete file for every committee
By the committee date, the bursary team knows exactly which applications are complete, and incomplete ones have been chased by the system for weeks. Committee members receive consistent papers. Sensitive documents are in one secure place, and only the people who need them can open them. Families know what they still need to provide.
On a normal day in December, the bursary assistant opens the dashboard, sees that eight families have uploaded new documents and three still lack a P60, and the reminders to those three have already gone out.
Is this your bursary round?
- Bursary forms are PDFs returned by post and email.
- Supporting documents arrive as attachments in several emails.
- Missing documents are tracked in a spreadsheet.
- Sensitive files sit in staff inboxes.
- Committee papers take days to assemble.