Montessori teacher training

Student bursary and other fees paid by the school

Students receive a basic bursary of £430 monthly from the school, payable on the last day of each month from September 2008 to July 2009.
In addition to the basic bursary, a discretionary termly bonus of up to £540 may be awarded, at the discretion of the headmistress, subject to satisfactory attendance on the MCI course and conduct at the school and an end-of-term interview with the headmistress in December, March and July. To qualify for this discretionary bonus a student must provide evidence at regular intervals that:

• The student is up-to-date with all assignments for the MCI
• The student's spoken English is of a high standard (or the student is taking measures to improve his or her command of the language)
• The student's punctuality and attendance record are both very good.

A contract incorporating these and other details is exchanged between the school and the student.

There are no kitchens at Prospect House so lunch is not provided here. To compensate for this, students at Prospect House receive an extra £38 per month, bringing the total of the basic monthly bursary to £468 for students at Prospect House (lunch is provided free of charge each day during term time to students at Bassett House and at Orchard House).

Whilst technically taxable, in practice, unless the student has income from other sources, no tax is deducted because everyone is entitled to tax-free income of £6,475 in the tax year (which runs from 6 April in one year to 5 April in the next). If the student has paid tax on pay received between April and August before starting the course, this is likely to be repaid automatically over the autumn term. National insurance contributions (effectively a payroll tax) would be likely to amount to between £163 and £176 over the 11 months of the course.

Other fees paid by the school

In addition the school pays the fees (a total of approximately £2,400) charged by MCI for:

• The distance learning course (approx £710)
• The teaching practice assessment (approx £500)
• The workshop (approx £640)
• The examination fees (approx £240)
• All lectures and seminars (approx £310)

Thus the basic bursary and the study fees are together worth approximately £7,130 in addition to which a discretionary bonus of up to £540 per term (£1,620 over the academic year) may be awarded.