Education programmes to help support Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils have been launched by communities minister Lord Greenhalgh.

The new programmes will focus on boosting educational attainment, tackling exclusion and drop-out rates and improving pathways to employment for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children, backed by £1 million government funding.

The pilot programmes will reach 150 schools and involve a range of targeted work, including:

• reducing drop-out rates by engaging families with preschool children and those transitioning from primary to secondary school
• targeting young people not in education, employment or training
• fostering better cooperation between councils, schools and families and
• tutoring for catch-up lessons to support pupils whose education has been disrupted by the pandemic.

Bradford, Central Bedfordshire, Essex, Hillingdon and Surrey have been chosen as the pilot areas.