Under this programme, the Armed Forces Covenant Trust will award grants between £5,000 and £80,000 for projects which support Service children along their Educational Pathway.
The programme is primarily focused on schools and local authorities across the UK.
They expect you to work in clusters and be collaborative.
Applications can only address the needs of children aged 4-18 in full-time statutory education, who are from currently serving Armed Forces families. This includes pupils whose parents are on full commitment as part of the full-time Reserve Service.
This funding is for stand-alone projects lasting up to two years.
They invite applications from local authorities, and schools in the UK which have children of currently serving Armed Forces personnel on roll. Service refers to Regular Forces or Reserves (Full-time Reserve Service).
They can accept applications from:
- maintained schools
- academies
- free schools
- sixth form and FE colleges
- local authorities
- multi-academy Trusts
Specialist educational organisations can be involved in a bid; however, the lead applicant will need to be one of the above. There is more information about this in their Programme Guidance document.
There are two ways in which you can apply for a grant under this programme. They expect that most applications will come through the cluster route. In the context of this programme, they consider a cluster to be a group of three or more schools. Applications from single schools can only be made in exceptional circumstances.
Where possible, you should make your local authority aware of your application – you’ll be given the opportunity in the application form to say whether the local authority is supportive of your proposal.
Under this programme, they cannot support the following.
- Childcare providers (including early years).
- Commercial organisations that would seek for their solution to be provided to a school for profit. For example, an organisation could not be awarded a grant to develop a training course which it then charges schools to attend.
- Independent (fee-paying) schools including boarding schools, whether or not registered as charities.
- Charities and charitable organisations (though they can be part of a project working with an eligible applicant).
- MOD schools
If you are applying for a grant as a cluster, then you can apply for up to £80,000 in total towards a project being delivered over a period of up to two years.
If you are applying for a grant as a single school, then you can apply for up to £40,000 in total towards a project being delivered over a period of up to two years.
This programme is designed to help support Service children along their educational pathway by:
- closing the gap in attainment between Service and non-Service pupils, using data led evidence
- addressing the needs of Service pupils with additional needs through early identification and intervention using a collaborative and coordinated approach
- identifying and addressing the needs of small cohorts of Service pupils within educational settings.
For the purposes of this programme, they consider a small cohort as where your military child cohort is less than 40% for primary settings, or less than 10% for secondary settings.
The application deadline is midday on Wednesday 8 May 2024. You will receive a decision before the end of June 2024.