Boarding education chance for children

VULNERABLE CHILDREN in South Yorkshire will be given more chances to attend some of the country’s highest-quality independent and state boarding schools.

The Boarding School Partnerships Information Service will be launched in collaboration with the Boarding Schools’ Association.

It will link local authorities with a host of children’s charities and boarding schools so they can work together to identify more young people on the edge of care who can be put forward for bursaries and scholarships and help them attend some of the country’s best schools.

Launching the new partnership, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the School System Lord Agnew said: “Children who have previously been in care or are at risk of care have often gone through difficult, challenging experiences that can have a lasting impact throughout their lives.

“These placements won’t be right for every child, but the pastoral care and educational support provided by our top boarding schools can have profound benefits for some young people.

“I’m delighted that so many organisations are working with us to help create more of these opportunities for these children, helping them to get the best start in life and to go on to reach their full potential, no matter what their background.”

The latest Government figures show the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their more affluent peers is narrowing – by more than ten per cent at Key Stage 2 and seven per cent at GCSE since 2011.

The Department for Education said vulnerable children – including those who have been or are in the care system – still often have poorer educational outcomes.