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Free Breakfast Club support for schools in Bradford

If at least 35% of pupils in your school are recorded as eligible for free school meals, or 50% as Ever 6 Free School Meals, then you may be eligible to receive support through the National School Breakfast Scheme.

It is funded by the Department for Education, and run by Family Action, in partnership with Magic Breakfast. The programme will support over 1770 schools in disadvantaged communities, including Opportunities Areas, to improve access to healthy breakfasts and learning.

Eligible schools will receive a £500 start-up grant to set up their breakfast club, and schools who do not currently have healthy, sustainable breakfasts already in place will receive free breakfasts.

The funding for food is only available until March 2020 – but the Magic Breakfast will work with you to put a longer term, sustainable plan in place. If you want to explore the benefit of removing the hunger barrier to learning for your pupils, please click for an expression of interest form.

Further information on the programme is here and here.

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Funded professional development for school leaders

Many existing and aspiring school leaders in Bradford have already registered to access a fully funded National Professional Qualification (NPQ) course.

Fully funded NPQs are open to all teachers and senior leaders in the Bradford Opportunity Area. They are aimed at those who would like further development to be a high performing middle or senior leader. The qualifications include:

  • National Professional Qualification for Middle Leadership (NPQML)
  • National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership (NPQSL)
  • National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH)
  • National Professional Qualification for Executive Leadership (NPQEL)

A full list of the NPQ providers can be found here.

If you would like any further information about how you or a member of staff can benefit from this offer, please get in touch.

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Internships

Over the summer, Bradford OA will be supporting and funding at least 12 young people, all from disadvantaged backgrounds, to take up an 8-week internship with professional employers in and around Bradford.

The purpose is to enable them to develop their employability skills, world of work experiences, enhance their CV and link with employers across Bradford.

Brand new centre for applied educational research established in Bradford

Born in Bradford and Bradford OA have established a new research centre in Bradford that will research, test and develop ways to improve educational outcomes in Bradford.

Funded support for school leaders

Bradford OA is investing £1.5 million of school improvement funding for schools in Bradford.

We want to help Bradford’s schools improve social mobility for the city’s children and young people. A crucial part of this is empowering Bradford’s best school leaders to help their peers improve.

Over the next academic year, the OA will provide funding for 25 schools in need of support. School leadership teams will work with high-performing local leaders to develop a joint plan for improvement. The OA will then provide funding to implement this plan.

A trial has begun this term for a small number of primary schools, with more schools to receive support in the autumn and winter terms. This will sit alongside activity already underway through the Strategic School Improvement Fund and the Teaching and Leadership Innovation Fund.

School support partnerships

Along with other school improvement activities, by enabling good or outstanding schools to support other Bradford schools, the OA aims to create sustainable, mutually supportive school improvement in Bradford, in turn improving the education, wellbeing and opportunities for young people