Fifteen-million-pound plans to ramp up a school attendance scheme that provides mentoring to severely absent pupils in left-behind parts of England have been unveiled.
Barnardo’s is currently running a three-year trial of the project, which began in 2022, in five of the government’s 24 priority education investment areas (PEIAs).
The charity was awarded the £2.32 million contract to provide one-to-one support to 1,665 schoolchildren across three years who are missing more than half of their lessons.
But a tender released by the Department for Education this week revealed it is looking for firms to recruit and train mentors to work with 3,600 youngsters every year across 10 PEIAs.
