The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust (the Trust) has announced 21 new awards in the latest round of the Service Pupil Support Programme! Worth £1.3 million, these projects are set to make a real difference to school-aged Service children across the UK – improving their educational pathways and helping to address the challenges they can face.
Part of the MOD’s Armed Forces Families Fund, the Service Pupil Support Programme supports projects which focus on pupils from currently serving families and support them along their educational pathways. The projects supported in this funding round address gaps in educational attainment, support Service pupils with additional needs, and support small cohorts of Service pupils within educational settings.
This year, the Trust has focused on supporting schools working in collaborative clusters of three or more to address the programme’s aims. Many funded projects centre on collaboration between schools to facilitate shared resources and good practice.
A key theme through several funded projects is providing bespoke support and interventions which help meet the unique needs of Service pupils. With an award of £77,753, Blackpool and The Fylde College’s project ‘Achieve Your Potential’ will bring together a consortium of Further Education colleges in Lancashire.
The project will test the impact of providing personalised and targeted support on the retention, attainment and progression of Service children aged 16-18. Rosie Fearn, Director – The Lancashire Colleges, said: “We are thrilled to have been awarded this funding which will enable us to offer new and exciting opportunities to Service children in Further Education.
“Through ‘Achieve Your Potential’ we hope to demonstrate the impact that providing personalised and targeted support can have on helping Service children to succeed at college, achieve their potential and progress onto rewarding careers. Our findings will contribute to the wider evidence-base being developed by the SCiP Alliance Lancashire and North West Hub and help to inform future policy in Lancashire and beyond.”
Pencoed Primary School were awarded £40,000 to support the development of speech and language, literacy and numeracy, and transition across a cluster of schools In South Wales. Alice Brennan, Additional Learning Needs Coordinator, said: “We were beyond thrilled to receive this grant, it has literally made our year!
“Our program is designed to support our Forces children with their language skills, both expressive and receptive, and also to support their transition into primary or secondary school, or their basic literacy and numeracy skills, depending on need.”
The project will employ a speech and language therapist to assess children and create bespoke support plans for their learning. The speech and language therapist will also work alongside teaching and support staff, providing valuable training, and will develop videos to support parents with their children’s needs at home.
A cluster of five schools in Moray, Scotland, lead by St Gerardine School, were awarded £79,728 to build on their existing success working with Service children who have additional support needs, especially where there are barriers to learning and/or transitioning into school. This funding will allow the schools to continue and improve upon a suite of highly focused academic interventions which help identify and target gaps in learning and wellbeing.
Service children identified as having Additional Support Needs will be supported a team of Pupil Support Assistants, either in small groups or one to one, ensuring their specific needs are addressed. This means Service children (especially those new to school) have an increased sense of belonging and feel their needs are met, ultimately raising their confidence and educational attainment in the longer term.
Sonia Howe, Director of Policy and Communications at the Trust, said: “We are delighted to see clusters of schools and colleges working collaboratively to address the unique needs of Service children, enabling them to reach their full potential. These awards will have a positive impact on the futures of our Service children around the UK.”