05 May 2021 Office for Students consults on 49% cuts to HE arts courses funding The Office for Students is the independent regulator for higher education in England. They are running a consultation on funding decisions for the 2021-22 academic year they have been directed to make by the Department for Education, requiring a 50% reduction in funding for university courses on performing and creative arts. The consultation closes on Thursday 6 May.
21 April 2021 Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme The £200 million Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme runs in England with funding from the Department for Education (DfE) distributed via top tier local authorities who are responsible for spending the grant. The grant is for local authorities to provide free places at holiday clubs in the Easter, summer and Christmas school holidays in 2021 for children who receive Free School Meals.
13 April 2021 Cultural Learning workforce survey – April 2021 The Cultural Learning Alliance exists to champion a right to arts and culture for every child. To do this we need a vibrant workforce to deliver cultural learning. The CLA is asking freelancers and colleagues working in organisations to fill in a short survey about roles in cultural learning, contracts and redundancies by the 30 April.
12 April 2021 Arts Council England publishes first phase of Let’s Create Delivery Plan Despite there no longer being a specific goal, outcome or investment principle linked to children, the Delivery Plan is explicit in its support for cultural learning and ensuring that there is a focus – across themes and actions – on the creative lives of children and young people.
31 March 2021 DfE Summer School Guidance announced New funding for secondary schools to run summer schools including arts activities.
17 March 2021 Representation in Drama project: support and teacher survey Guest blog from mezze eade, CLA Special Advisor Representation in the Curriculum and Romana Flello, Royal Court Theatre RinD aims to address systemic imbalances in KS3, GCSE and A level drama by supporting intersectional anti-racism work happening in UK schools, theatres and theatre companies. The project promotes the study, directing and programming of plays by writers from the global majority*.
12 March 2021 News from Westminster £700 million recovery package for children and young people; Education Recovery Commissioner Sir Kevan Collins appointed; Education Select Committee hears evidence on the impact of Covid-19 on children, including a call to stop using deficit language of ‘catch-up’.
10 March 2021 Policy and Practice round-up March 2021 This month we bring you news of more data on job losses in the creative industries and which groups are being particularly affected; key information from the roadmap out of lockdown for cultural learning; an EPI report on the attainment gap post-16; an EEF report that suggests children eligible for FSM are much less likely than their peers to have extra-curricular arts lessons; and an open call from the National Theatre to get involved in their Inclusive Practice Collective.
09 February 2021 Policy and Practice round-up February 2021 This month we bring you news of children’s poor mental health and the impact of the pandemic on their future earnings; Children’s Mental Health week from the Place2Be; the interim government response to the Augar Report; the removal of gateway providers for Kickstart Scheme grants; 55,000 job losses in the creative industries; and the Edge Foundation’s first Skills Shortage Bulletin of 2021.
05 February 2021 Skills for Jobs White Paper on post-16 technical education On 21 January the Department for Education’s White paper Skills for Jobs was published with the promise it will ‘reform further education so it supports people to get the skills our economy needs throughout their lives’.
