Around a third of all children at UK private schools receive some kind of help towards paying the school fees. But the number in receipt of a ‘golden ticket’ scholarship or bursary, the transformative awards covering all the costs, is small. Ostap Stefak is one of the lucky few and here, in a GUEST BLOG exclusively for The Good Schools Guide, he explains his journey from modest beginnings to Harvard University, all thanks to a life-changing opportunity at Harrow School.
1 November 2023
“Whether you are making sandwiches or cleaning someone’s teeth; solving equations or writing a short story, dedicate yourself to it,” my parents would say, “and make it into something good and beautiful. Make it a work of art.”
I was born in 2000 in L’viv in western Ukraine. Soon after my birth, my parents set out to the UK to build a better life and I was left in the care of my grandparents. In the UK, my dad started out working at a cafe making sandwiches; my mum found employment as a dental assistant. At the same time, they trained to regain the medical qualifications they had in Ukraine.
At five years old, I joined my parents in the UK. We lived on Welldon Crescent in Harrow, north west London. Not quite Harrow on the Hill - home of the famous school that was to later play such an important role in my life - but a place some people call ‘Harrow off the Hill’, in a neighbourhood popular with recent immigrants to the UK. The twenty-minute walk from our house to Harrow School felt like a journey between two worlds. My parents would sometimes say, “I hope our son one day will have the chance to study at a school like this,” and emphasised the importance of education to me.
With this ethic and the loving support of my family, I did well in primary school. In year 6, as I was applying to secondary schools, my mum found out by chance about the Peter Beckwith Scholarship at Harrow. As soon as she read its description, she was convinced I could get it. There was a small problem, though - the deadline had passed. She phoned the Harrow Registrar and convinced him he would not regret reading my application. By a stroke of luck, he extended the deadline for me and a few weeks later I found myself at the first round of the scholarship exams. To my surprise, I made it through the successive admissions rounds and eventually I sat at home awaiting results. When my mum picked up the phone call from the Registrar, I could tell by her expression that I had got in. It was a wonderful moment. Amongst more than two hundred applicants, I was fortunate to be selected for one of the two scholarship spots.
The Beckwith Scholarship provides funding to its recipients to study at a boarding prep school of their choice for two years before Harrow. I chose The Dragon school in Oxford, mostly (but not only) because I liked its name. I had a great time, and academically received as rigorous a preparation as I could have for Harrow.
But to say that it totally prepared me would be untrue. I don’t think any school can prepare you for all that Harrow is, because it is a magical, unique place. It is undoubtedly a far more traditional school than almost all others, emphasising the School’s values and principles. It has its own vocabulary and nomenclature. Perched on a hill, it gives you a beautiful out into the world, and yet is far from an ivory tower.
At the start of my time at Harrow, I was dreadfully insecure about my relative poverty. As you can imagine, it is a soul-wrenching moment for an impressionable teenager to see your parents drive up, amidst Range Rovers, Mercedes and Aston Martins, in a diminutive Toyota whose engine squeaks for a minute each time you start it up. Perhaps partly to compensate for this, I decided I would make the most of my time.
Ostap, his mother and sister at Harrow Speech Day
To me, this mostly meant academics. I dedicated much of my first year studying harder than ever, applying the attitude of doing things properly to everything I set my sights on. Throughout my time at Harrow, I thrived academically. Encouraged by my teachers I entered many academic competitions, a number of which I won.
And yet the real magic of Harrow’s impact on me lay elsewhere.
Harrow encouraged me to develop important parts of myself that otherwise would have remained dormant forever. I tended to dive deep into subjects, to seclude myself from others and focus on academic life. My housemaster Mr Higgins - a living embodiment of Harrow School and its principles - pushed me to do the reverse: to engage in team sports, act in plays, and volunteer.
Although I never became a great footballer, rugby player or cricketer, I excelled in Judo. Spurred on by an inspirational Judo coach, I won medals at UK-wide competitions, co-leading the Harrow team to win the Independent Schools Judo championships in 2019. My Harrow judo experience culminated with a trip to Japan and training with members of the Japanese Olympic team.
I joined the cross-country team and ultimately ran a half marathon. I joined the Combined Cadet Force, where I was selected to be in the Marines and learned about teamwork and leadership and completed The Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, hiking self-sustained across France, Scotland and Wales with a group of friends.
I volunteered at a school for disabled children. Together with their teachers, I took the kids for walks to the park, and in return they taught me lessons about life I’ll never forget.
I led four different societies (clubs) during my time at Harrow, starting one from scratch and substantially growing the membership of the others.
If this seems like a lot, it is. Harrow encourages you to stretch and push yourself. What makes it invigorating rather than constricting is the camaraderie. Everyone knows each other, and everyone supports each other. You feel this most in the Houses, which become an extension of your family.
I was from a different world to most other Harrow students. At times I felt it. But in many ways Harrow brought us to the same level and made our family backgrounds irrelevant. Our identical uniforms made us visually equal, and this in turn gave space for the most important differences - those in our character - to make themselves felt.
As Harrow came to a close, I was no longer worried about my parents' car. I realised my value came first and foremost from the kind of person I was and that, whatever the case, my friends would be there for me.
When I lived at Welldon Crescent as a child, Harrow was close but felt far. Now, as I work on my economics and computer science assignments in my dorm at Harvard University, Harrow is far. It is thousands of miles away across an ocean. But it feels close.
Ostap Stefak was awarded the Peter Beckwith Scholarship at Harrow School. The Beckwith Scholarship covers up to 100% of school fees at Harrow plus an additional two years at a prep school and is given to boys with exceptional abilities in academia as well as sport, music or drama.
In addition to scholarships like Ostap's, many private schools such as Harrow, as a result of being charities, offer funding to families whose children meet the school’s standard academic entrance requirements but would be unable to afford the costs. If you think your child may be eligible, read our article on Scholarships and Bursaries and make contact with our expert education consultants.