£1m education programme for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children launched

Education programmes to help support Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils have been launched by the government which will focus on boosting educational attainment, tackling exclusion and drop-out rates and improve pathways to employment.

The pilot programmes, backed by £1 million government funding, will reach 150 schools and involve a range of targeted work, including reducing drop-out rates by engaging families with pre-school children and those transitioning from primary to secondary school, targeting young people not in education, employment or training, fostering better cooperation between councils, schools and families; and tutoring for catch-up lessons to support pupils whose education has been disrupted by the pandemic.

Bradford, Central Bedfordshire, Essex, Hillingdon and Surrey have been chosen as the pilot areas, with the programmes informing future government work that make a real difference to the lives of people in the community.

This announcement includes funding for the Open Doors Education and Training organisation to continue catch-up tutoring for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils, building on £400,000 invested last year to deliver catch-up support and expert guidance to help young people progress.

This funding complements the significant investment that Department for Education has made of over £3 billion for education recovery, including a significant expansion of its tutoring programme to support children and young people to make up for learning lost during the pandemic.