Vulnerable Student Bursary
RNIB Pears School and the governing body are committed to supporting young people to remain in education post 16 and to continue to learn and develop as successful citizens.
It is the aim of RNIB Pears Centre and the governing body to support the most vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to benefit from a 16-19 bursary grant.
The purpose of the bursary grant is to provide additional fundingto help our young people overcome specific barriers to learning and participation so they can continue to make good and outstanding progress in their Post 16 studies.
The school is eligible to apply for the 16 to 19 vulnerable bursaries for young people in one of the defined vulnerable groups.
Who is eligible?
A student is eligible for vulnerable student bursary if they are:
- A young people in looked after care aged 16-19.
- A disabled young person who is in full time education and in receipt of Income Support, Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA). (Please note, that a young person claiming DLA must also be claiming ESA as well. These two benefits MUST be in combination.)
How is the bursary spent?
The funding is used to provide additional support so that young people can further develop their independence and self-help skills. As part of this specialised equipment will be purchased and adaptations of the school environment will be made to ensure that our 16-19 students make good or better progress at RNIB Pears School during their post-16 studies.
Monitoring and reporting
The Head teacher reports through the Governors finance lead and the full governing body on all matters relating to finance.
Additional Information can be found at:
Summary of spend
Academic Year: 2017/18
Total allocation:
Description of spend / Amount / Impact / EvidenceAcademic Year: 2016/17
Total allocation: £8,400
Description of spend / Amount / Impact / EvidenceMusic Therapy sessions / £3,762 / Improved emotional well-being and mental health / Improved attendance
Improved engagement
Sensory Therapy training delivered to staff teams / £1,550 / All students’ level of concentration improved.
Better engagement with learning.
Sensory needs better met with improved well-being and reduced incidents of challenging behaviour / All staff attended training and sensory techniques incorporated into each YP personalised curriculum.
Improved student engagement.
Improved well-being as sensory needs are better met.
Purchase of sensory bed / £840 / As a resource in our light and sound room it has proved to be popular with our students, who find its use to be highly therapeutic.
Improved well-being and engagement / High level of usage by students.
Students who use the therapy bed are demonstrating better engagement and resilience in learning.
Purchase of specialised kitchen equipment to develop a ‘flat’ space in school and modification of the space / £2258 / Facility being used as extensively as an independent living skills teaching space. / All students achieved OCR Life & living skills level 1 at award level and 50% of Post 16 students achieved extended award in year 1 of the course.
Updated: August 2017