Educational support funding decision for ethnic minority children delayed until January 2023

Funding decisions on educational support for children from ethnic minorities in Gateshead have been delayed until next January.

Councillors, teachers and education sector representatives throughout Gateshead were expected to discuss the next financial year’s funding for the Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (EMTAS). However, not everyone could attend the meeting and it was abandoned with decisions delayed until January.

The meeting was expected to review and approve maintaining funding for children who require the EMTAS services at £250 per primary school pupil.

EMTAS helps children, including child refugees and those seeking asylum, who require English language support. The team is also responsible for; generally supporting ethnic minority children’s education, encouraging community cohesion, and reacting to hate crimes.

The service currently consists of a higher-level teaching assistant, an equality and diversity officer, two bilingual specialists, and an English as an additional language specialist teacher. The service assisted 34 schools across Gateshead between September 2021 and October 2022.

EMTAS conducted 16 training sessions between 2021 and 2022 to help schools, head teachers, and school governors.

Gateshead census data reveals that 9.12% of pupils have a first language other than English. The most common are Polish, Arabic and “variations of Kurdish and Chinese”.

Gateshead witnessed an increase in the percentage of children from ethnic minorities or traveller communities from 13.14% in 2021 to 14.08% in 2022. This equates to 3,869 out of the 27,481 children in the area.

Cllr Gary Haley, Gateshead Council cabinet member for children and young people, said: “The council has always supported children from diverse communities and will continue to do so. The council has played a full role in assisting children from overseas communities who are here on various settlement schemes.”

The next meeting to discuss the future funding levels of the service is scheduled for 12 January 2023.