Background 

Scottish Borders Council (SBC) encompasses a mix of rural and urban areas. Around 15% of pupils claim free school meals and 8% (1101 pupils) live in Quintile 1. Since 2023-24, as part of the ‘team around the cluster’ approach, Strategic Equity Funding and the Care Experienced Children and Young People’s Fund have been devolved to the nine clusters. This allows decisions to be made at a local level and empowers communities to address the poverty related attainment gap in their context. Funding is allocated using the same methodologies as those used by the Scottish Government. 

Rationale 

Over the last two years the local authority has made progress in narrowing poverty-related gaps in attainment, attendance and positive destinations but there is a need to accelerate pace. A universal approach is not considered appropriate given the disparate nature of the nine communities. Locally designed approaches to addressing the gaps are required. 

There is an understanding that schools and education services alone will not reduce the poverty-related attainment gap and that attempts to address this should be done with ‘collective agency.’ The cluster model is a commitment to working across a range of services, including third sector organisations and community partners working together with families, maximising local resources. This initiative aims to empower communities to take ownership of change, enabling them to adapt and thrive. The focus is on collaboration, consultation, and shared responsibility among stakeholders. 

This work is also a key part of the SBC Equity Strategy. 

Attainment Scotland Funding 

Strategic Equity Funding and Care Experienced Children and Young People Fund: Over £50,000 

What Scottish Borders Council did

Cluster leads 

The local authority appointed nine cluster lead headteachers and provides additional resource from central budget to support time away from their schools. 

Funding allocation 

Strategic Equity Funding is distributed to clusters using the Children Living in Low Income Families data. 

The Care Experienced Children and Young People Fund is distributed based on the numbers of care experienced children and young people aged 5 to15 in each cluster. 

Decision-making process 

Guidance for cluster leads outlined a roadmap for using funding effectively. The guidance mandates engagement with stakeholders, including learners, families, and partners. 

Planning exemplars and documentation have been provided to ensure consistency of approach. The guidance advocates a participatory budgeting approach and recommends a minimum spend for work related to this. 

Monitoring procedures are built in to ensure quality assurance of cluster approaches. Impact of approaches will be described in end of session reports. 

Challenges 

This model has taken time to establish given the need to identify partners, local needs and solutions. Consultation with stakeholders and human resource processes required a significant investment of time. 

Approaches 

Clusters have adopted a range of approaches. For example, one cluster has employed a home school link worker with a focus on improving levels of engagement, attainment and attendance with targeted families. Another cluster has created a ‘wellbeing team’ and a ‘family wellbeing hub’ which will deliver universal and targeted wellbeing activities for families. Each cluster identified intended outcomes from their approach. 

Impact 

Interim evidence of impact includes increased collaboration with partners such as Police Scotland, school nursing, early years centre managers and youth workers. Cluster leads report an increased ability to deliver local approaches which provide a continuum of support for the bespoke needs of children, young people and their families in the community. It is anticipated that partnership working in this way will support efficient use of existing resources to work towards shared outcomes.