Maya Stock

I spent years 7-11 at my local state school and wanted a change for sixth form so looked at Wellington as an option as it offered the IB, a curriculum my state school had just dropped due to a lack of funding. My older brother is the year above me and had just started Wellington on a large bursary, so I knew that Wellington could be an option for me in the knowledge that the bursary system was in place. From my understanding, we had to achieve a scholarship to open up the bursary fund and my elder brother came on a music exhibition. When I applied, I tried out for a dance scholarship but was unsuccessful. Despite this, I was offered an academic scholarship based on my entrance tests.

I remember crying opening my acceptance letter as I knew that I wouldn’t have been able to attend without such a generous bursary and I felt extremely lucky.

Attending Wellington as a bursary recipient gave me a certain outlook on my sixth form experience and led to me cherishing every opportunity. On top of this, as I was only there for two years and not five, I wanted to embrace every moment whilst I could! I had the most incredible time and managed to squeeze in dance shows, endless dance classes (at one point in U6th I was doing 8 hours of dance a week!), I helped with the Callais charity project, joined in with creative writing society and so much more – the typical life of a Wellington student really! I was also lucky enough to be awarded college prefect, L6th house prefect (Combermere) and captain of the girls football team, and managed to achieve 43 in the IB and pick up AS dance in U6th and achieve an A. I simply would not have been able to achieve even half of these things at my old school and, during extremely formative years at the end of my childhood, the experiences I gained at Wellington and the memories I now cherish have shaped my future. Words simply can’t express the gratitude I feel towards receiving a Wellington bursary – the two years I was given have changed my life.

I would wish a Wellington bursary on anyone. I’m even jealous of my younger brother who has been accepted to join in September for sixth form on an art scholarship as he is about to have an incredible two years that I’d love to repeat myself. During my L6th summer, I volunteered at the CCHF camp that Wellington used to host for underprivileged kids from East London. There was one child there who was so intelligent and sporty and had so much passion that I desperately wished for him to come on a bursary as I knew he would thrive.

I would love more and more kids to come on bursary scholarships in future as I know how transformative they can be.