Agenda item

To consider the report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services.

The Board considered the report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services that included a summary of outcomes and learnings relating to projects funded by City Premium Grant (CPG) in the 2022/23 academic year, noting in particular:

- key statistics across the 78 CPG funded projects that ran in 2022/23;

- highlights of the most popular themes and areas of focus across projects;

- highlights from a selection of projects; 

- observations on the new process’s first year of operation; and

- key learnings.

The Board noted that ImpactEd reports would be shared across the City family of schools, noting also that parental engagement work would be coming online in 2024. 

Members noted the significant benefit to schools of the partnership co-ordinator role at CoLAT recently approved for funding and recruitment, noting that the role would be expected to ensure that primary schools (which have a lower participation rate) are more greatly involved in programmes.

A Member asked whether any bids were rejected, and asked whether data collection was built into the bid process. The meeting heard that not all schools had sufficient resources to roll out an appropriate bid mechanism, though the new partnerships role was expected to mitigate that. The Board noted that three bids were unsuccessful within the last year, and that these were from one school whose bids focussed heavily on overseas trips, noting that other overseas trips were undertaken by that school in any case. Some schools had been asked to scale down their bid in order to deliver a wider spread of projects. 

The Board noted that the volume and type of data being collected was being examined (noting the benefits of asking schools to focus on outcomes) and that lessons were being learned from the application process on an ongoing basis.  

RESOLVED, That the Board confirm that schools may submit bids for projects lasting up to three years.