Bradford is one of the Education Secretary’s 12 Opportunity Areas (OAs) - these are social mobility ‘coldspots’ each receiving a share of £72 million to improve opportunities for young people in this community.

Bradford’s share of the investment is £6m and will total £11.5m. This will include £5.5m for the Essential Life Skills funding over two years to enable children and young people aged 5 -18 years old to participate in regular extra-curricular activities. Children and young people will be able to participate in extra-curricular activities such as sports, volunteering and social action projects.

The new Delivery Plan includes investing in literacy projects, careers education and advice and additional support for vulnerable young people across the city, as well as boosting career development for school leaders and teachers in Bradford.

The Strategic Director Children’s Services will submit Document “AF” which provides information on the Bradford Opportunity Area Delivery Plan which has been developed in partnership with the Local Authority, local schools, employers, and the voluntary and health sector. Young people have been consulted and will be engaged in the delivery of this programme.

Recommended –

That the Delivery Plan be noted.

(Kathryn Loftus – 01274 434590)

Bradford was one of the Education Secretary’s 12 Opportunity Areas (OAs) - these were social mobility ‘coldspots’ each receiving a share of £72 million to improve opportunities for young people in this community.

Bradford’s share of the investment was £6m and would total £11.5m. This would include £5.5m for the Essential Life Skills funding over two years to enable children and young people aged 5 -18 years old to participate in regular extra-curricular activities. Children and young people would be able to participate in extra-curricular activities such as sports, volunteering and social action projects.

The Strategic Director Children’s Services submitted Document “AF” which provided information on the Bradford Opportunity Area Delivery Plan which had been developed in partnership with the Local Authority, local schools, employers, and the voluntary and health sector. Young people had been consulted and would be engaged in the delivery of this programme.

 Members commented on the following issues:

·                The deadline for applications for schools and colleges to apply for Essential Life Skills funding of 9 March was not long enough; a number of schools were not aware of the deadline or that the funding was available.

·                How many applications had been received for the Essential Life Skills programme and was there a problem in communication with schools? needed to ensure communication with schools was appropriate; needed to do a press release informing schools on what was available and what they needed to do to apply for funding; had officers looked at informing the Governors service to communicate with school governors on the scheme?

·                How would the programme help with the impact on funding cuts relating to Early Help and Prevention?

·                What was the alternative provision for children who had been excluded?

·                Where the Opportunity Area Partnership Board meetings held in public?

·                Would like to see information on which schools had applied for the funding and what schemes they were running.

In response to the comments raised by Members it was reported that:

·         The information about the grant allocation and what was expected from the application was posted on schools online.

·                The Director of Children’s Services was on the Bradford Opportunity Area Partnership Board which looked at the investments that would need to be made based upon priorities and activities outlined in the Opportunity Area Plan; improving education was a priority.

·         An online activity guide was available to organisations which listed the activities that could be supported; the deadline for applications was extended twice; 84 providers had come forward in providing various activities; needed to obtain feedback from schools on whether the activity guide was useful.

The Chair requested that an email be sent to the Committee on the number of schools that had applied for Essential Life Skills funding.

Resolved-

That the Committee welcomes this exciting initiative and requests an update report in 6 months and members of the Opportunity Area Partnership Board be invited to that meeting along with Damon Boxer, the Delivery Lead for the Bradford Opportunity Area.

Action:           Strategic Director, Children’s Services