New pots of money available for academy trusts

New funding available for Academy Trusts

The first available is a new pilot by Sport England, alongside the Teaching Schools Council. Its aim is to help shape a national programme for specialist training for at least two teachers in every secondary school in England by 2020. The pilot will include up to 50 schools and by the end of it, is designed to give a more positive learning experience of PE and sport. Schools that have been selected to take part will receive a package of support including funding, workforce training and mentoring. To find out more information about becoming a pilot school, check out the Sport England website.

The Education Secretary Damian Hinds also announced on the 30th April that there are two new schemes to help build confidence in language and reading at an early stage. These two schemes are intended to help parents improve literacy and early language skills of their children before they start school.

Run by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), the first scheme is providing £5m towards trial projects to provide practical tools and advice to parents. It will aim to give parents and carers the tools to help widen children’s language, vocabulary and social skills – aiming to tackle the ‘word gap’ that exists between disadvantaged children and their peers at age 5.

The second scheme has £8.5m available and is accessible to Local Authorities to fund projects improving language and literacy development for disadvantaged children. The scheme is called the Early Years Social Mobility Peer Review Programme. This will involve local authorities working together to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children.

The EEF trial will take place in the North of England, whilst the Local Authority schemes will take place nationally, giving more schools a chance to be a part. Further information about the EEF trial and Local Authority schemes is available.