The annual programme awards grants of up to £25,000, along with dedicated support, to help teachers across England develop innovative projects that enhance educational outcomes, especially for children and young people from low-income backgrounds in northern England.

Let Teachers SHINE has a proven track record of helping teachers to make a lasting impact. Over the past decade, more than £4 million in grants has been awarded to teachers, nurturing groundbreaking projects such as Bruno Reddy’s Times Tables Rock Stars and Colin Hegarty’s Hegarty Maths.

The programme has also supported countless smaller projects which have also had a major impact on students’ outcomes.

The latest round of the competition is open to practising teachers across England, including those in early years settings, schools, and colleges.

Judges are seeking fresh ideas with the potential to boost attainment, particularly in core subjects like English, maths, and science.

They are particularly interested in projects that use creative approaches to engage students and ignite their passion for learning, and initiatives that specifically benefit children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

2024’s winning ideas included a reading fluency project for primary pupils, a student feedback website, an app for tracking student progress in science and online video resources for maths teachers.

Fiona Spellman, CEO of SHINE, said: “We believe the best solutions for closing the attainment gap come from the classroom. Teachers are the people who truly understand how to unleash their students’ potential.

“Year after year, we see how teachers’ ideas drive change. Every project, large or small, has the potential to make a real impact. If you’re a teacher with a creative new idea, I urge you to apply.”

Applications are open until Wednesday January 15 2025. Winners will be announced in the spring of next year.

Further details and the application form can be found here: https://shinetrust.org.uk/what-we-do/let-teachers-shine/

The Exeter-based business’s charitable organisation, the Class People Foundation, supports the welfare, wellbeing and aspirations of children and young people in early foundation stage, primary and secondary education. The deadline for its current round of funding is Friday, 5th April.

Nominations are open for schools and nurseries to put themselves in the frame to receive funding of up to £1,500 per establishment to support a wide range of projects. The Foundation annually dedicates funds to eligible establishments generated from the recruitment business’s profits and through the fundraising and voluntary time of its staff.

Officially launched in 2021, the annual grant has so far supported a dozen schools with various projects worth around £10,000 and is hoping to fund at least ten more this year. The grant fund is accessible to all schools and nurseries across both regions, who can use the funds to support running or capital costs, for sports kits, residential trips, events and other activities.

Lynis Bassett, Founder and Trustee of Class People Foundation (pictured left), said: “As a former education professional, I along with the team understand only too well the increasing financial challenges faced within the education sector. We also know that the relationships between schools and the families in their communities extend beyond the classroom. Through The Foundation’s grant giving, we are able to support projects which improve the lives and learning of school-aged children and young people. In the 2018/19 academic year alone, we put aside £10,000 in support of our local schools and nurseries.

“Our funding also addresses another growing need, as more families experience poverty in the face of rising living costs. A grant from The Foundation can, for instance, provide school uniforms for families who are struggling or offer schools a little extra to support meals for hungry children. Alternatively, a bursary from us can alleviate the pressure on a student to leave school and start earning. Our aim is to significantly grow this funding pot through increased fundraising support over the next few years, to ensure as many schoolchildren and local communities as possible get to benefit from a grant.”

If you’d like to apply for a grant, tell us about your project and how it will help to improve the lives and learning opportunities of the children and young people in your school community, using the online application form found here.

www.classpeople.co.uk

The additional cash is part of a £2 billion injection of new funding for schools – being made in both this year and next year – topping up budgets to help headteachers manage higher costs like energy bills and teacher pay. This sits alongside the Prime Minister’s promise to halve inflation.

A typical primary school will receive approximately £35,000 and a typical secondary school approximately £200,000, with the first payments by the 10th May. The majority of this funding is allocated on a per-pupil basis, and disadvantaged pupils attract additional funding to their school. The allocations also factor in differences in wage costs between areas.

Schools can choose how to invest the extra funding, however it is primarily expected to support salary uplifts for teachers and teaching assistants and help with increased running costs, school trips and learning materials.

The boost means that schools budgets are rising by £3.5 billion next year, and funding will be at the highest ever level in real terms per pupil by the next academic year, as measured by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

It also means school funding is set to rise faster than forecast inflation in both 2023/24 and 2024/25.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said: “I am hugely grateful to all our fantastic teachers, school leaders and support staff for all their incredible work and the immeasurable impact they have on the lives of children every day.

“Teachers must continue to have the resources they need, and this extra cash will make sure that they do.

“With school funding set to be at its highest ever level next year, even accounting for inflation, parents everywhere can be confident schools are being supported to let teachers get on and do what they do best – teach.”

The remainder of the £2 billion funding boost will be used to increase Pupil Premium funding rates, which are rising by 5% in 2023-24, to support disadvantaged pupils and local authorities’ high needs budgets which support special schools.

The Department for Education is also today responding to a consultation on the National Funding Formula (NFF) which is used to allocate school funding, considering a range of factors such as the number of pupils, their needs and the school site.

Among the changes being introduced, and in recognition of falling pupil numbers across some areas of the country, is the removal of a requirement for schools to be Ofsted rated good or outstanding in order to be eligible for additional funding to help manage a significant decline in pupil numbers. Schools will need to show that places will be required within five years.

Councils will also be set expectations around the minimum funding they must provide to support schools seeing a significant increase of pupil numbers. Schools with more than one site will also now receive funding on a consistent national basis to go towards the additional costs they face due to the need to duplicate services, like caretaking, across sites.

The consultation response sets out changes to the formula from 2024-25 and reconfirms the Department’s commitment to move to a ‘direct’ NFF, in which funding for individual schools will be set by a single, national formula – rather than each local authority having its own local formula to allocate funding for individual schools. The changes will make the system fairer, more efficient and predictable.

Schools and colleges will receive investment to upgrade classrooms and refurbish buildings that will provide high quality learning environments – benefitting communities for years to come.

Since 2010, one million school places have been created, the largest increase in school capacity in at least two generations. Thanks to this new tranche of funding, thousands of additional primary and secondary school places will be created in good or outstanding schools for September 2026.

This comes on top of the School Rebuilding Programme which will transform buildings at 500 schools across the country over the next decade – prioritising those in poor condition. The government has already invested over £13 billion in school capital funding to improve the condition of school buildings since 2015.

Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education Robert Halfon said: “This significant investment will transform school and college buildings across the country so that they are fit for the future and can provide the best education for students, no matter where they live.

“We want every young person to have access to high-quality facilities and learning environments, to gain the skills they need to climb the ladder of opportunity into further study and work, whilst supporting efforts to grow the economy.”

The funding announced includes:

• A £1.8 billion investment for the 2023-24 financial year to improve the condition of the school estate across England. This builds on over £13 billion to upgrade school buildings since 2015.
• A further £487 million will be invested to support councils to provide additional school places needed for September 2026.
• Alongside this, 146 colleges will benefit from the final phase of the £1.5 billion Further Education Capital Transformation Programme, to upgrade buildings and transform campuses.

The FE Capital Transformation Programme is just one part of a wider programme of government investment to transform post-16 education and training, ensuring that every student can gain the skills they need to progress and secure a good job.

This includes massive investment to support the roll out of new T Levels, boost capacity so there is a place for every 16 to 19-year-old and a £300 million investment to establish a network of Institutes of Technology.

Staff shortages and workload are also presenting challenges for schools. Of the 250 school leaders surveyed, 66% admit it’s harder to fill teaching positions and more than three quarters (81%) expect staff workload to be an issue over the next year. Recruitment difficulties have also led to wage inflation for teachers, adding to the costs that schools must factor into their budgets.

In order to cover increased operating costs, schools have had to pull money from other areas such as transport provisions. Whilst 50% of schools have invested in classroom teaching, 39% in remote learning and 41% in school buildings, just 6% have invested in transport in the last 12 months.

This lack of investment means that 38% of schools are losing more than 11 hours each week to school run admin. In addition, outdated registration methods are posing a risk to student safety with 29% of schools still tracking usage via paper registers.

Despite only 28% of the schools surveyed providing a home to school service, 44% of school leaders believe school transport is vital for pupil wellbeing and academic results. The post-pandemic return to normality has resulted in difficulties across attainment, social skills and student behaviour and 66% of respondents feel that student wellbeing with pose a significant challenge over the next year.

Encouragingly, 43% of school leaders are planning to invest in transport for school trips, 19% will invest in new home-to-school booking technology and a third (33%) in new vehicle operators in the next 12 months. Nearly two thirds (62%) of respondents feel that greater investment in technology can help improve staff productivity and efficiency, something that is particularly important given current workloads and staff shortages.

Commenting on the findings, Godfrey Ryan, CEO of Kura (pictured) said: “ Schools have faced a plethora of challenges in recent times and while energy bills and staffing costs remain high, it’s clear that the majority of school leaders are feeling the pressure to make budgets stretch further.

“Understandably, this means that in some areas, investment has fallen behind. Schools have had to make cuts to building maintenance, resources, trips, and transport, leaving budget black holes in their place. However, 72% of schools surveyed are not currently offering a home to school transport service, which plays a vital role in student safety, wellbeing and attracting students to meet admissions targets.

“Furthermore, transport technology is an often-overlooked area for investment, but it can help save stretched staff hours spent on admin and enable schools to enhance safeguarding and attendance processes by logging boarding and journey data. With our research showing that safeguarding and wellbeing of students, and workload and wellbeing of staff, are concerns for the year ahead, school leaders should recognise how investment in transport can help to tackle these issues, rather than pushing it down the priority list.”

The charities were nominated by members of the public as part of the specialist financial services group’s annual 12 days of giving Christmas campaign.

Charities including Friends of Rickleton Primary School, Medic to Medic, Friends of Harberton, Bradley Barton Primary School PTFA and ACE IT Scotland SCIO each received £1,000 following the public nominations.

More than 219,000 people around the UK nominated a cause close to their heart, with over 9,600 charitable causes up and down the country receiving votes. The 120 winning charities were picked at random from those nominated.

Thanking supporters of charities Mark Hews, Group CEO at Benefact Group, said: “Charitable giving is at the heart of our business at the Benefact Group. We are delighted to be giving back to deserving charitable causes once more with our annual 12 days of giving Christmas campaign, part of our Movement for Good Awards. In these challenging times, we know that £1,000 can make a real difference and we’re looking forward to seeing how this festive financial boost will changes lives for the better and bring a positive start to 2023.

“Out of some five million companies in the UK, Benefact Group is the fourth largest corporate donor and has an ambition to be the largest. As a Group of financial service businesses, uniquely owned by a charity, all available profits go to good causes, and the more our loyal customers support us to grow, the more the Group can give. Our purpose is to contribute to the greater good of society and, together, we can help many good causes to continue their support for those who need it most in these difficult times.”

A full list of winners can be found at movementforgood.com.

Each year, British Science Week is an opportunity for students and their wider school community to get hands-on with all things science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and explore the brilliantly broad range of careers and opportunities in the field.

The grant scheme, run by the British Science Association and funded by UK Research and Innovation, aims to inspire and widen access for children who might not otherwise have the opportunity to take part in science or gain exposure to the sector.

Last year saw schools use their grants in a range of exciting ways, from funding workshops and school trips to Kew Gardens to bringing in external speakers from local universities and businesses such as the University of Hull and Yorkshire Water. The grants also provide schools with additional resources to host STEM-themed competitions and projects; last year the grant enabled one group of Year Seven students to design a wellbeing garden for their whole school to enjoy and another school to grow a ‘spaghetti tower’, to help them understand how energy enables growth.

The grant scheme offers a range of levels to help remove barriers for schools in challenging circumstances, including:

• Kick Start Grant – a grant of £300 for schools to run an activity during British Science Week
• Kick Start Youth Grant – a grant of £150 for students aged 10-19 at school to organise and deliver an activity during British Science Week
• Kick Start More Grant – A grant of £700 for schools to host a science event or activity that involves your students and the local community, for example local businesses and employers
• Combined Kick Start Grant and Youth Grant – A grant of £450 for schools to run an activity during British Science Week and an additional activity organised and delivered by students aged 10-19.

To apply for the grant, schools are encouraged to submit an application for a project that is cross-curricular and challenges science stereotypes which will help engage students who are otherwise underrepresented in STEM. Schools are also invited to use the theme for British Science Week 2023 ‘Connections’ as inspiration for their events.

To be eligible for a grant, schools must meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Over 30 per cent of pupils eligible for pupil premium, early years pupil premium or equivalent.
• Over 30 per cent of pupils who are from minority ethnic backgrounds.
• Be a small school based in a remote and rural location.

The British Science Association is also offering Community Grants of £500 and £1000 to help local community groups run their own projects and activities, in an effort to inspire and expand the number of people who enjoy and take part in science.

The British Science Week 2023 Community Grants and Kick Start Grants are now open for applications. The deadline for submission is midnight 7 November 2022. For full details on eligibility and how to apply, please visit the Kick Start Grants guidelines and 2023 Community Grants guidelines.

Applications will need to be submitted via the British Science Association online forms. Please visit the British Science Week Grants pages to apply.

For the fourth year running, Ecclesiastical Insurance and the Benefact Group are giving away £1million to charities through its Movement for Good awards. Members of the public were invited to nominate causes close to their hearts, with 250 awards of £1,000 available now for donation.

Frogmore Community School Parents Association, Lauriston School Fund, and Sandy Lane School Association are among the schools and education charities set to benefit from the money, following overwhelming public support.

In total, more than 202,000 people around the UK supported the Movement for Good awards, with over 3,900 charitable causes up and down the country receiving votes. The 250 winning charities were picked at random from those nominated, following 250 previous winners being selected in June.

It’s quick and easy to nominate, you can vote for your favourite charity online at: www.movementforgood.com

Mark Hews, Group Chief Executive of Benefact Group, said: “We would like to thank every single person who took the time to nominate a good cause as part of our Movement for Good Awards. Benefact Group is the fourth largest corporate donor in the UK and has an ambition to be the biggest. Owned by a charity, all of its available profits go to good causes, and the more the group grows, the more the group can give. As a company whose purpose is to contribute to the greater good of society, charitable giving is at the heart of what we do. We know that £1,000 can make a huge difference to the incredible work that charities do and we’re looking forward to seeing how this financial boost will change lives for the better.”

A further 120 £1,000 grants will be given away in December and £500,000 will also be given in larger grants later this year. For more information about the awards visit www.movementforgood.com

Movement for Good is funded by EIO plc, part of the Benefact Group.

More than

The Grants for Schools is one of several cost-saving measures to be launched by UK environmental education charity the Field Studies Council to help schools tackle mounting economic challenges. 

Philip Turvil, Eco-Business Director for FSC, said: “As a charity we are feeling the pinch just like every other organisation, business, school and family. The cost-of-living crisis and rising energy bills are impacting hard on everyone, and we know that budgets only stretch so far which is why we are doing what we can to continue to support schools at this difficult time. 

“It saddens us greatly that pupils could end up missing out on valuable school trip experiences and outdoor learning opportunities because of factors beyond their control and it seems wholly unfair that a generation of young people who have already missed out on so much because of the Covid pandemic now face losing out on fun and educational trips. 

“As a charity it’s always our aim to lift the attainment and aspirations of young people and teachers through a range of educational courses and our Grants for Schools scheme is designed to alleviate some of the cost pressures which schools are currently so that they can continue to offer a school trip experience to their pupils.” 

The charity, which has been a leading provider of environmental education to schools for 75 years, is also offering schools discounted residential trips during October and February half term as part of its newly introduced measures.   

It has also launched a new Digital Hub – an online treasure trove of free videos and teaching resources to help teachers and pupils make the most of learning outdoors on site at school or in their local community should trips be cancelled. 

“Most schools receiving an FSC grant are able to use the reduced cost of tuition to help fund travel and reduce the cost paid by parents,” added Mr Turvil. 

“In real terms the financial assistance can cover up to half the cost of a typical school residential trip. 

“Our low season pricing will also provide further options for struggling schools and our online Digital Hub facility will ensure those teachers and pupils which are unable to experience a field trip to one of our 20 sites can still get access to student-friendly resources for all the fieldwork topics covered by the main biology and geography exam boards.” 

Grants of up to £7,500 are available to eligible schools over a three-year-period to help towards the cost of FSC residential courses and £900 available for FSC day courses. 

Funding is available to schools where at least 10 per cent of students receive pupil premium and the closing date for applications is October 24. 

For more information on the Grants for Schools visit www.field-studies-council.org/fsc-grants-for-schools/. 

Opened in 2001, Millennium Point is a landmark public building in the Eastside of Birmingham city centre. Inside, it is home to 17 versatile event spaces including a 354-capacity auditorium, meeting rooms and offices, and tenants, including ThinkTank and Birmingham City University (BCU).

Commercial activity that takes place in the Millennium Point building feeds back into the Millennium Point Charitable Trust. This enables the charity to donate to, invest in, and facilitate STEM-related projects, events and initiatives in the West Midlands. This has included over £2.7m in STEM grants to schools, not-for-profits and charities in Greater Birmingham and the Wider West Midlands.

In addition, the trust funds £16,650 in STEM degree scholarships annually, in partnership with Birmingham City University. To date, scholarships have totalled over £83,000.

Abbie Vlahakis, CEO of Millennium Point (pictured at left) said: “Promoting STEM education across the region is what we do – increasing the opportunities for the next generation via some of the most exciting career paths available. “As a meeting and events space, the last 18 months has been incredibly challenging, but it’s fantastic that we have continued throughout to contribute to the West Midlands’ myriad of exciting STEM projects and initiatives.”

The trust has also announced an extension to the deadline for applications to the Millennium Point Charitable Trust STEM Grants Programme 2022, which is now 5pm on Friday December 17th.

With STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) funding grants of up to £20,000 available, the trust has moved the deadline to give more organisations time to apply for money that can often be life-changing for young people and their future careers.

Paul Hughes, Schools Manager at the Aston Villa Foundation, commented: “The STEM grant we received from the Millennium Point Trust funded our innovative STEM Stars project, which has allowed us to add a new dimension to our provision and provide children, teachers and schools the opportunity to embark on their STEM education journey helping to develop skills of the future and make a real difference.’’

The latest round of funding in 2021 saw a wide range of successful, creative STEM projects – from a proposal to build a fully operational light aircraft to STEM training toolkits for schools.

Abbie Vlahakis added: “Every year we are impressed and inspired by the applications we receive for our small grants programme, and this year has been no exception – and I’d urge any organisation looking to fund an exciting STEM project in 2022 that there’s still time for their idea to be considered.”

To apply for a grant, go to: www.millenniumpoint.org.uk/trust/grants/apply/