PORTLAND — A $2 million grant will allow a local private school to establish a permanent endowment for gifted and talented students.

Waynflete School said in a press release on May 12 it was awarded the grant from the Malone Family Foundation, established in 1997 to improve educational access for gifted to students who lack financial resources.

“We are honored and thrilled to have been chosen … for this award,” Waynflete Head of School Mark Segar said in a written statement. “This endowment grant will enable us to expand our long-standing financial aid program to support additional students of exceptional ability and promise.”

The Malone Family Foundation does not accept grant solicitations. Waynflete was chosen by an independent panel that considers a school’s academic caliber, quality of staff, attention to individual student needs, commitment to financial aid and diversity of the student body.

Segar said Waynflete, a private school on Spring Street that charges tuition between $19,000 and $24,000 a year for grades one through 12, is the first school in the state to receive the award.

The endowment will provide financial aid awards for gifted and talented students in grades seven and up.

Segar said in an email Monday that students applying for the 2012-2013 school year will be eligible for the money. Recipients will be chosen according to academic strength and family financial need, he said.

Segar said the school plans to award 5 percent, or about $100,000, of the endowment a year. That will be in addition to Waynflete’s existing scholarship program, which awards $2 million a year, he said.

Founded in 1898, Waynflete enrolls more than 550 students from early childhood through high school.

Randy Billings can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 100 or rbillings@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @randybillings.

This story was updated on May 19 to correct a mathematical error.

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