Suffolk County Council is inviting bids from the county’s publicly funded schools for money to create projects that will boost the attainment of disadvantaged students.

In the latest round of the Raising the Bar “Challenge Fund” a maximum of £250,000 is available for innovative initiatives by state schools that will help reduce the gap between the examination success of students who are disadvantaged and others.

Successful bids will receive up to half the cost of projects and the remainder of the costs must be covered by the schools. Up to 40% of the costs will be funded up front, with an additional 10% paid if the project achieves its targets. Schools can also receive an additional 25% in funding if the project achieves higher targets.

Lisa Chambers, cabinet member for education and skills, said: “As part of our Raising the Bar programme to ensure every child in Suffolk can reach their full potential, the county council is funding innovative projects by groups of schools.

“Over £400,000 has already been awarded in two earlier Challenge Fund rounds to projects involving 103 schools spread across the county. The substantial new funds will enable further initiatives and focus on helping an important group of our young people.”

Bids for funding need to have ambitious and measureable targets, involve more than one school, and feature innovative or best practice approaches to help boost student success. Projects need to enable parents to be involved, and to be able to continue once Challenge Funding ends. Each school involved in a successful bid can receive up to £5,000 from the county council.

For more information and an application form visit www.suffolk.gov.uk/challengefund. The deadline for schools to make applications is 5pm on Wednesday, November 25.