• Colleges awarded final round of £2.5m SCIF funding

    960 640 Stuart O'Brien

    The third and final round of the Strategic College Improvement Fund (SCIF) has awarded a further 17 colleges a total of £2.5 million.

    Northampton College and Cheshire College South & West both successful in their bid for funding, now partnering with a high performing college to share their knowledge and help tackle issues such as boosting attendance and raising the standard of teaching.

    The results come off the back of a new report which praises the SCIF, noting colleges reported a number of positive benefits since its introduction, with many colleges pledging to continue the collaboration long after the programme ends.

    Anne Milton, Apprenticeships and Skills Minister said: “I’m pleased to announce the colleges that have been successful in securing funding from the third and final round of the Strategic College Improvement Fund.

    “The fund will have supported 80 colleges in total to drive up standards and help to make sure all students get the best education and training possible.

    “We’ve seen some great success stories as a result of the programme. It’s excellent news that colleges are making progress. Many colleges are intending to continue working together beyond the programme’s end, which can only be for the good of students.”

    Launched in October 2017, the SCIF has awarded funding to 80 colleges across England have been successful in securing funding totalling £12.3 million. This includes Macclesfield College and Sir George Monoux Sixth Form College in London have been successful in securing funding from the fund.

    Andrea Murphy, Vice Principal, Macclesfield College said: “We originally applied for the SCIF bid in November 2017 as although we had made significant progress in English and mathematics provision over a three year period, with the introduction of the new grading system we saw an opportunity to continue this trajectory by working with other providers to share and implement good practice from the sector.

    “Our first application was supported by a visit from the SCIF team who advised us as to how we could make improvements to the bid. Unfortunately, in that round we were unsuccessful. However we decided to apply again, as although by this time we had been through a successful Ofsted inspection, we felt that a resubmission could still support us. We reapplied in July 2018, again we were supported well by the SCIF team with the stage 2 application.

    “Our SCIF bid will focus on ‘Raising the Bar through a Coaching and Growth Mindset – Engagement and Appropriate Intervention for English & Maths and Access to HE Learners’. We are now delighted to be embarking upon a journey towards becoming outstanding and feel that this bid will support us in this aim.’’

    Almost three quarters of eligible colleges applied for the fund and 91% of applicants were successful in securing funding ranging from £60,000 to £500,000.

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    Stuart O'Brien

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