Management Information Sheet

The Ministry of Defence Directorate for Children and Young People (MoD DCYP) is inviting schools with service children to again apply for a share of the above Service Children‘s Education Support Fund. The fund is available to assist publically funded schools, academies and free schools, to mitigate the impact that mobility or deployment of the Armed Services communities has on schools and these children. For example:

• The effect of a constant high turnover of Service children usually experienced by schools located close to an Armed Forces base.
• The movement of an entire unit/squadron/base at any one time.
• The effect on individual children when a parent is deployed to a conflict zone or on long term service away from home.

Grants from the 2014/15 round went to an increasingly wide variety of different types of application including:

• Providing support to Service children who have a parent serving on operational deployment.
• Helping Service children settle in who arrive in UK schools after the start of term.
• One to One Tuition to support children with gaps identified in their education.
• Employment of buffer teachers to counter fluctuations in pupil numbers.
• Purchasing of Ipads to improve communications with deployed parents.
• Employing Service Family Support Workers/Coordinators/Councillors/Service Children Champions to cater for the specific needs of these children and families.
• Funding for a nurture room.

A list of successful bid ideas is attached.

Schools applying for the grant will need to outline how the fund will be used to mitigate the effects of mobility/deployment and to support positive outcomes for both the school’s Service children and the wider establishment.

The funding panel would welcome applications from clusters of schools, schools who liaise closely with the Service community and schools that are able to demonstrate both long term benefits for service children and value for money.

Norfolk schools have been very successful in accessing grants for their Service children and we hope that this will encourage schools to apply this year. Norfolk Children’s Services are keen to support schools in gaining the grant and any schools who would like help with the process are invited to contact Ruth Foster. We are also happy for schools to make applications completely independently using the application packs attached (the forms are relatively straightforward to complete).

Please note the deadline for completion is 16:00 hrs on 30 Sep 2015.