Excellence clusters
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Excellence Clusters are designed to bring the benefits of Excellence in Cities (EiC) to small pockets of deprivation. Some 397 secondary schools and over 280 primary schools are involved in Excellence Clusters. Like EiC, the clusters focus on some of the most deprived areas of the country, using a structured programme designed to raise standards.
Clusters benefit from extra resources to provide the three core strands of the EiC programme:
- Extended opportunities for
Gifted and Talented pupils
- Access to full time Learning
Mentors for pupils who need them
- Learning
Support Units to tackle disruption.
A fourth strand of funding is available to target particular local issues, as identified by the schools in each cluster.
Each Cluster receives a minimum of £650k per year from the Department. The exact funding level is based upon pupil numbers, FSM data and GCSE/KS2 test results. The funding for all Excellence Clusters is guaranteed until March 2006. This funding will be reviewed in the Comprehensive Spending Review.
Currently there are 25 Excellence Clusters with another 14 due to begin in September 2003 and one due to begin in January 2004.
There is also a proposed expansion for 2004-05 and 2005-06 which will result in between 15-20 new Excellence Clusters. Between now and April 2005, 41 new clusters will be formed on the closure of statutory EAZs, including Preston EAZ, which successfully transformed into the City of Preston Excellence Cluster on 1 Dec 2002.
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Key documents
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