To receive the above update.

Clive Haines, School Leadership Development Manager stated the Youth Service, due to external fundraising, had spaces for pupil premium children to take part in activities that pupil premium children did not normally have access to and would include children aged 8-13 years old. Bronwyn Hamilton-Brown explained there were six schools working together aiming to  run summer activities in the Borough. One group had stepped back in 2017 due to lack of planning time but, other groups were looking at forest schools and Kayaking which would hopefully take place over a weekend in July.

The four LA officers had applied for funding through the Spoore, Merry & Rixman charity which, on first application, appeared to be received positively.   It was hoped this would be a dynamic weekend with outdoor activities combined with literacy, cooking and residential activities the children would enjoy. It was stated that wider opportunities could be restricted for less affluent families and this had a knock on effect educationally.

The Director of Children’s Services explained that often, it was a cohort of one child in a group that qualified for pupil premium and these activities gave them a chance to take part and be included in activities so they were not socially excluded. Officers were aiming for six schools working with a number of children each; it was the first year this was being trialled.

Councillor Airey asked if there were any Councillors that were also governors of schools that could encourage schools to take part. The School Leadership Development Manager confirmed that next year, the youth service would take the programme forward and expand the programme. The chairman stated it would capture the children that did not take part in summer activities and it was right to start the scheme small and build on it to grow the programme in the coming years. The Director of Children’s Services stated some academy chains already ran summer activities but, the programme run by youth services was to target a specific cohort of children. Bronwyn Hamilton-Brown confirmed that an Aspiration day at Reading University on 19 June 2017 for 45 children involving three Maidenhead schools was being held; financed by Cllr Mills.

Furthermore, The School Leadership Development Manager confirmed there were applications to Youth Services for two activities per week and they had been signposted to pupil premium families; Youth Services kept the School Leadership Development Manager updated on the uptake of places. He added that Youth Spaces would be promoting the programme to schools. Councillor Airey suggested promoting the scheme for next summer in the spring edition of Around the Royal Borough. The School Leadership Development Manager stated that children in care were automatically provided with two free spaces.

Bronwyn Hamilton-Brown confirmed it was not possible to get the BCA to offer the same Aspiration event as Reading University in the summer term but, she was hoping the BCA would offer an opportunity to visit in 2017/2018. Councillor Airey suggested alternatives for outreach programmes, considering Legoland with an engineering prospective.