A scheme to help provide support to schools following Covid will be scrapped this year despite new figures showing it benefitted nearly half of all schools in Wiltshire.

The Association of School and College Leaders has called for the Government to continue to provide support as the National Tutoring Programme will be discontinued this summer.

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, has called the move a "great shame".

He said the impact of Covid and the cost-of-living crisis have continued to have a "devastating impact on the outcomes of disadvantaged children", adding the programme was an effective way of providing additional support.

"The new government must focus on strategies to close the disadvantage gap, which could include restoring funding for the NTP, as well as wider cross-government work, to address the very high level of child poverty in the UK," he added.

The programme was introduced to help children catch up with their education after the disruption of the Covid, with the Government subsidising tutoring for pupils.

It funded 70 to 75 per cent of the programme in 2021-22, with schools covering the rest. This was reduced to 60 per cent for the following year, and to 50 per cent for 2023-24.

From September 2023 to May this year an estimated 3,436 courses were started by pupils in Swindon, with 43 of 88 schools in the area using the scheme.

This was down from the 5,076 courses started at the same point in 2023, when 63 of 88 schools were participating.

In wider Wiltshire, an estimated 4,856 courses were started, with 113 of 234 (48 per cent) schools in the area using the scheme.

This was down from the 8,405 courses started at the same point in 2023, when 80 per cent of schools were participating.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said it is encouraging schools to continue with targeted tutoring.

"The Government is committed to driving high and rising standards to break down the barriers to opportunity so we can improve the life chances of all children," they said.

"We will deliver real change by integrating childcare and early years into the wider education system, introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school and developing an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty so that families feel supported, and children are able to learn."