16 to 19 Bursary Fund

Bursaries for defined vulnerable groups:

Students who meet the criteria, and who have a financial need, can apply for a bursary for vulnerable groups. The defined groups reflect that these students are unlikely to be receiving financial assistance from parents or carers, so may need a greater level of support to enable them to continue to participate. Students should be awarded the amount of support they need to participate based on an assessment of the types of costs they have and must not be automatically awarded £1,200. Institutions must ensure students are eligible for the bursary for defined vulnerable groups in each year they require support.

• in care
• care leavers
• receiving Income Support (IS), or Universal Credit (UC) because they are financially supporting themselves or financially supporting themselves and someone who is dependent on them and living with them, such as a child or partner
• receiving Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payments (PIP) in their own right as well as Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or UC in their own right

Discretionary bursaries:

• Travel
  Students that live a certain distance from the college (e.g. over 3 miles) will be entitled to a travel bursary to provide support towards the costs of travelling to and from college. Students will receive a travel pass on a termly basis.
• Free School Meals
  Students that qualify for FSM will qualify for a discretionary bursary.
  Please note that the amount students receive will depend on the fund received and the student numbers that qualify. Please contact college for details.

The 16-19 Tuition Fund

• Producing this statement setting out how the fund will be used to support the most disadvantaged students.
• Publishing this guidance on the College website.
• Recording the use of the fund, including references to individual students who receive support, the needs of those students, the number of hours of tuition delivered and retain the evidence of the tuition provided.
• Deliver the extra tuition and spend the allocated funds in the academic year 2021/22
• Notify the Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) of any underspend from the Fund for it to be reclaimed.

For example, vocational courses where assessment has been deferred because of lockdown. Although the actual tuition does not need to be for GCSE English or maths, the students supported all need to be those who had not achieved grade 5 or above in at least one of those subjects at this level by age 16.

All supported students must be on a 16 to 19 study programme. Priority will be given to students who have not achieved a grade 4 in English and/or maths.

We will prioritise students that will benefit most from small group tuition with a particular focus on students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), particularly where they have experienced additional disruption to learning as a result of their specific needs and disabilities. The funding will be used to support the tuition activity above and beyond the programmes of education already planned for 2021 to 2022.

• Offer additional catch up support sessions for small groups of students.
• Small group tuition will enhance progression of learners on our level 2 programme.
• Use the sessions for small group and 1:1 tuition in English, Maths and vocational learning for 16 to 19-year-old learners.
• Provide this tuition in addition to the planned study programme hours.
• Employ additional staff to deliver these sessions.