Innovations Funding to Support Students at Risk

The Government is ready to allocate a million dollars to encourage schools with innovative programmes to help students at risk of poor educational achievement.

Education Minister Wyatt Creech said today that his Ministry was inviting registrations of interest from schools with "innovative learning programmes" that will help those students to improve their educational outcomes.

"Any school can submit a registration of interest by itself, in partnership with a non-school provider, or as part of a cluster of schools," said Mr Creech. "What we are looking for are programmes that are innovative."

"This is a move by the Government to make things better for students who need some extra help. We want to encourage lateral thinking, and hopefully initiate good programmes that can be shared throughout the country," he said.

The Innovations Funding Pool was formally announced in the Budget, and it will continue at $1 million a year over the next three years.

Mr Creech said details of the Innovations Funding Pool had been sent to schools throughout the country, inviting them to send registrations of interest directly to the Ministry of Education. Selected schools would then be shortlisted to submit detailed proposals about their programmes.

Schools will be expected to contribute resourcing from the outset, with the level of their contribution increasing over time, as Government funding decreases. Schools will be expected to fully support the programmes when the funding ceases.

Further information could be obtained from Ministry's Management Centres in Auckland, Hamilton, Wanganui, Lower Hutt, Christchurch and Dunedin.