MORE than £1m will be spent directly supporting activities for vulnerable youngsters across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole over the school summer holidays.

The ‘Summer Offer’ will help address mental health, gaps in learning, the lack of preparation for secondary school, exploitation and knife crime as well as ensuring that families have food during this period.

Over £780,000 has been set aside to cover the costs of the activities with the use of volunteers, food donations and support from other organisations, contributing an ‘added value’ of £172,000 to the schemes, with £100,000 on top of this for school transition work.

In addition qualifying local families can claim free school meal vouchers, funded by the Department of Work and Pensions, estimated to be worth £1m spread across the area.

A report to councillors this week (July 27) says that 25 providers will be delivering a range of activities, food and nutritional education as well as signposting families to other areas where they can get help.

Between 1,700 and 2,400 children on benefits-related free school meals are being targeted by the programme although there is some provision to also help a limited number of children who do not qualify for free school meals.

A ‘Starting School Together’ programme, costing £100,000 and funded by Public Health, will also be running throughout the summer, offering up to four hours over four days of the week, to help vulnerable children starting school in September – offered through Family Hubs. Most of these places are already fully booked.

A number of local schools are also offering support to help pupils catch up on missed schooling during the holiday, mixing academic work with physical and other activities. Some of the work will target incoming Year 7 pupils, which is known to be a difficult transition time for many.

Nine local schools have currently signed up to the summer school programme – Highcliffe School, Magna Academy, Glenmoor and Winton academies, Cornerstone academy, The Grange School, Poole High, Linwood School, Winchelsea and Avonbourne Boys’ and Girls academy.

The Department of Education estimates that in the first half-term of autumn 2020, pupils in Years 3 to 9 were on average around 1.6 to 2 months behind on their reading; pupils in Years 3 to 7 were around 3.2 months behind on their maths and schools with high numbers of pupils eligible for free school meals were on average further behind those in schools with low free school meals eligibility.