posted by Rhonda McFarlane, Funding Officer, Chief Executive’s Department
New Funding Opportunities for Schools
Funding for Work Experience and Enterprise Projects with German Schools (UK)
UK Schools that have partnerships with a German School can apply for funding of up to £5,000 to undertake work experience and / or enterprise projects as part of their partnership. Suitable themes for joint project work could include topics such as international business; cross-cultural skills; education and culture; and entrepreneurship, etc. The project or work experience activities must take place within the context of a UK-German school partnership where at least 8 pupils from both schools are participating in mutual visits. Grants provided can support costs such as travel and accommodation for reciprocal partner visits, project resources and joint activities and will be a contribution to the overall costs.
Previous partnerships supported include St. Columb’s College Derry, Northern Ireland, and IGS Langenhagen, Hannover for their “Fit for a global world” project. This project involved 24 UK and German students and aimed to raise awareness of the importance of languages for the global economy as well as to allow students to gain experience in the world of work in a foreign country.
Applicants must contribute at least 25% of the overall eligible activity costs through participants’ contributions and other sources of funding.
The closing date for applications is the 31st October 2016.
http://www.ukgermanconnection.org/WORLDOFWORK
One Stop Carriers for Causes Grants (England, Scotland & Wales)
Environmental Charity Groundwork has partnered with the convenience shop chain “One Stop” to offer grants of up to £1,000 for good causes within two miles of a One Stop shop. The Carriers for Causes grants programme is funded through the money raised from the 5p bag charge in One Stop stores. The types of projects funded will be very broad and could include buying litter pickers and bags for a community clean-up days, plants, spades and forks to plant up a new community garden, the cost of a minibus for a day trip for a community group or the materials needed to paint a room at the local hospice. To see if your school is within two miles of a One Stop Shop please click here.
Applications will be accepted from a wide range of organisations including: schools, voluntary/community organisations, registered charities, health bodies, Parish/Town councils, social enterprises, Community Interest Companies, community councils, local authorities and housing organisations. Other not-for-profit organisations might also be eligible. Businesses and ‘for profit’ organisations are not eligible. Carriers for Causes is a rolling programme, meaning that you can apply for funding all year round. Applications are shortlisted on a quarterly basis for panel decision which will take place every three months.
http://www.groundwork.org.uk/Pages/Category/carriers-for-causes-uk
Grants for UK-German Partnership Visits (UK)
The Partnership Visit Fund supports new or on-going partnerships between UK and German schools by providing financial support of up to £1,000 for teachers’ visits to a partner school. Teachers of primary and secondary schools can apply for a visit that revives an existing school partnership or develops a new one, or allows new teachers coming on board to familiarise themselves with the partner school. The focus of the visit must be on planning future activities between pupils, and developing an interactive project to take place within the year. Visits should not last longer than one week, the school must provide 25% of the required funding and a maximum of 3 teachers can be supported.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis but the proposed visit must not start for at least 4 weeks after you submit your application.
http://www.ukgermanconnection.org/partnershipvisits
Funding to Develop Joint Projects with German Schools (UK)
UK Schools that have partnerships with German Schools can apply for funding of up to £5,000 to support joint thematic projects. This can include mutual visits, and is designed to inspire young people from the UK and Germany to get involved in relevant interaction, collaboration and learning.
In order to be eligible for funding project activities must take place within the context of a UK-German school partnership where at least ten pupils from both schools are participating in trips to the other country involving project work; the activity focuses on thematic and coherent project work; the emphasis of the project is on real and meaningful interaction, collaboration and joint activity between the pupils from both countries; and the project includes a strong element of involvement of pupils in the conception, implementation and dissemination of the project with the traveling pupils taking on an active role as ambassadors and representatives of a wider group of young people. Grants provided through the Challenge Fund grant can support costs such as travel and accommodation for reciprocal partner visits, project resources and joint activities and will be a contribution to the overall costs. Applicants must contribute at least 25% of the overall eligible activity costs through participants’ contributions and other sources of funding.
Examples of projects that have received funding in the past include:
- Wishaw/Shotts Youth Exchange Group (North Lanarkshire) and Kreisjugendring Wunsiedel for ‘Life beyond the border’, a project that looked at What does it mean to be a European citizen?
- Partner schools The Dukeries Academy and Gesamtschule Rheydt-Mülfort took part in a cross-curricular project involving their local communities to investigate sustainable transport.
The deadline for the Challenge Fund is the 31st October 2016.
http://www.ukgermanconnection.org/challengefund
Wolfson Foundation Secondary Education Programme (UK)
The Wolfson Foundation’s has announced that the next stage 1 application deadline for funding through its Secondary Education Programme is the 10th January 2017. High-achieving state-funded and independent schools and sixth form colleges can apply to the Foundation for funding for capital or equipment projects relating to the teaching of science and technology, languages, music, the arts or libraries. Grants do not normally exceed £50,000 for schools or £100,000 for sixth form colleges. Projects should focus on students taking A-Level or GCSE examinations.
Examples of schools that have received funding through the Foundation include:
- Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys, Canterbury (£45,000) towards the refurbishment of a laboratory and prep room.
- Crickhowell High School, Powys (£23,000) towards equipment for the Art, Design & Technology department.
- Rhyl High School, Denbighshire (£33,000) for IT equipment for the music and art departments and library.
The Wolfson Foundation has a two stage application process. Stage 1 applications should be submitted via their online application form. If approved, schools will invite you to submit a stage 2 application.
http://www.wolfson.org.uk/funding/education/secondary-education/
- CE (Aided) Primary School which received grant of £980 towards the cost of a four-night residential trip to an adventure centre in Shropshire for a group of school children from a deprived area of Wokingham;
- A Way Out that received £1,000 towards a two-night residential trip to an adventure centre for a group of disadvantaged children from Stockton-on-Tees; and
- Baysgarth School which received a grant of £1,000 towards a three-day trip to an adventure activity centre for a group of disadvantaged children from Lincolnshire.
The closing date for applications will be the 18th November 2016.
http://www.henrysmithcharity.org.uk/holiday-grants-for-children.html
Final MOD Round of Education Support Funding (UK)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has launched a new and final round of the Education Support Fund, which provides grants for UK maintained schools with Service children of frequently moved or deployed parents. School can submit an application alone or via a joint proposal with other schools in their area that have service children. Local authorities may also apply on behalf of the schools in their region. Applications must provide strong evidence of how their proposal would help service children and the school overcome the effects of mobility/deployment. Although there are no specified limits to the grant amounts, schools must also demonstrate value for money.
Examples of what can be supported include: Literacy and numeracy resources to boost children’s skills; Educational resources including ICT; Service families specific information on websites; Library books for Service children; Counselling provision for a cluster of schools; Service Family Liaison Officer to provide a key point of contact for Service families.
The deadline for applications is 30th September 2016.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mod-support-fund-for-schools-with-service-children-grant-application-form
Funding to Enrich and Enhance Maths and STEM Teaching in Schools (UK)
The Royal Institution has announced that its Maths E&E (Enrichment and Enhancement) Grant Scheme will re-open for applications in October 2016; and its STEM E&E Grant Scheme in January 2017. Grants of up to £500 are available to UK-registered state schools to host a STEM E&E maths or STEM activity selected from the STEM Directories.
Activities listed on the Directories are described as ‘enrichment and enhancement’ because they are events or experiences that enrich or enhance (go beyond) the school curriculum and cannot easily be delivered with standard school resources. The grants can be used towards any activity listed on the STEM Directories to cover fees and expenses of the activity provider as well as travel expenses incurred by the school. Any other expenses incurred by the school are not covered. In order to apply for a grant, applicants need to be from a state-funded school, academy or sixth-form college in the UK and be a member of the school staff who is involved in teaching maths in that school.
http://www.stemdirectories.org.uk/grants/
Chinese Bridge for UK Schools (UK)
Head Teachers of schools which are starting to teach Mandarin, (or have an intention to do so) are being given the opportunity to establish links with a school in China and participate in a week long professional development trip. The British Council is working with Hanban, China’s official public institution for Chinese Language, to encourage the teaching and learning of Mandarin and Chinese culture at schools in the UK. Up to 60 places will be available for visits which will take place between the 22nd and 29th of October 2016. Schools must pay for their own flights but accommodation costs and expenses whilst in China will be funded by Hanban. Dane Royd Junior and Infant School in Wakefield received funding so that the head teacher could take part in a leadership conference in Chengdu.
All applications must be received by noon on the 7th July 2016.
https://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/programmes-and-funding/visit-china
OneFamily Foundation Community Awards (UK)
The OneFamily Foundation has announced the next round of Community Award funding. OneFamily customers have until the 29th June 2016 to nominate projects for a Community Award of between £5,000 and £25,000.
Nominated projects should fall into one of the following categories: Health, Disability and Social Care; Schools and Centres of Education; Sports and Social Groups; Youth and Affiliated organisations. Each category will receive one £25,000 award and up to five £5,000 awards, these will be decided by a public vote with the winners being announced on the 27th July 2016.
In the past community awards have helped to fund things such as the renovation of school playgrounds and sports clubs, sensory gardens and respite centres for children with disabilities. For example, Sand Sun Special Needs in Lincolnshire received funding for an adapted caravan; Riverside Primary School in Exeter won £25,000 to save their school pool; and St Mary’s Primary School in Gloucestershire received to be able to convert a room that is closer to the classroom in to a children’s disabled toilet facility.
http://www.wcva.org.uk/funding/funding-latest/2016/06/onefamily-foundation-community-awards
Microbiology in Schools Fund (UK)
The Society for General Microbiology has announced that its Microbiology in Schools Fund is now open for applications. Through the fund, grants of up to £1,000 are available to schools or individuals that are members of the Society to support microbiology teaching initiatives and events.
Grants can be used to support a range of microbiology-related projects. These might include, but are not limited to organising a visit to or from a working microbiologist (no more than £200 in expenses may be claimed per visiting microbiologist); running a school- or college-based science week activity (e.g. hands-on or programme of talks); and supporting microbiology activities in an out-of-school science club.
Applicants can submit more than one application during the year, but no more than a total of £1,000 will be awarded to a single individual / school during a single calendar year. The next closing date for this scheme is the 15th September 2016.
http://www.microbiologysociety.org/grants-prizes/education-outreach-funds.cfm/microbiology-in-schools-fund
Funding for Sensory Rooms and Equipment (UK)
Pupils at Cedar Lodge School in Belfast are to benefit from a new multi-sensory room which will give young people with disabilities the chance to dramatically enhance their learning experience in a stimulating new environment. The school is the latest to benefit from a partnership between the Lord’s Taverners and BT, who have invested hundreds of thousands of pounds to create 25 special multi-sensory rooms across the UK over the last six years.
The funding is made available through the Lords Taverners Sensory Room small grants programme and is available to schools catering for children with severe learning and physical disabilities. This will re-open for applications on the 1st September 2016. The small grants programme will offer grants of up to £5,000 towards sensory corners and sensory rooms.
The application deadline for the small grants programme is the 31st November 2016.
http://www.lordstaverners.org/sensory-rooms
Heathrow Communities Together Funding (London)
The Heathrow Communities Together Fund has grants of up to £2,500 available for charities, voluntary groups, schools, colleges, and Community Interest Companies working in Ealing, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Richmond, Runnymede, Slough, Spelthorne, South Bucks, or Windsor and Maidenhead. The awards are funded by Heathrow’s passengers, who donate foreign and British currency every day in Heathrow’s baggage halls and departure lounges – and by Heathrow Community Fund, to help groups in the areas around Heathrow to run projects focused on two themes: ‘protecting and enhancing our environment’ and ‘bringing communities together’. Proposals must also involve the community at each stage and show how they will deliver lasting benefits.
Previous projects supported include:
- Castlebar School is Ealing which received a grant of £2,100 to transform an unused area into a wilderness garden;
- Haybrook College which received a grant of £40,000 to support the launch of Come Dine with Me, a new catering training programme and community café for young people at risk of exclusion from education in Slough; and
- Hounslow Community FoodBox which received a grant of £2,000 to provide a warm snack, hot drink, use of facilities and social activities for those homeless.
The deadline for applications is the 28th October 2016.
http://www.heathrowcommunityfund.com/need-funding./together
ideas for the development of some of the outdoor space in the new community campus. After a planning and design morning at the school led by Owen from a company called Space Unlimited 15 pupil ambassadors travelled to Glasgow Maklab to build models of their designs. 
