Schools are set to receive £298 for each Year 7 student to run summer schools, the Department for Education has announced.

The funding will be available to schools based on up to half of their current Year 7 cohort being offered a place on a two-week programme, or all of them being offered a week-long programme.

DfE guidance says: “This funding equates to £597 per two- week place (£1,791 per place for pupils in special schools, special units within mainstream schools and alternative provision).”

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It will be up to schools to determine which students would most benefit from a summer school, but the DfE expects they will focus mainly on provision for those transitioning into Year 7.

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It says: “This transition is known to be a challenging one for some pupils, and the impacts of the pandemic have increased this challenge. Pupils leaving primary school this year may have missed a significant proportion of key stage 2 (KS2) face-to- face teaching and therefore missed valuable preparation for secondary education.

“They are likely to need additional support with English and maths, for example, to make it easier for them to access the secondary curriculum. A summer school gives an opportunity to offer that face-to-face support before they start a new school.”

Commenting on the government guidance on summer schools published today, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said:  “We welcome this investment in education recovery, and we are sure that many schools will take up the offer of funding for summer schools.

“These programmes have the potential to be useful additions to wider work in supporting pupils following the past year of disruption caused by the pandemic.

“We are pleased the government has made school participation in this programme voluntary and given schools flexibility over the design of the programmes they offer.

“Schools are best placed to decide what works best in their context and the challenge with summer schools is on how to ensure the attendance of children who most need additional support.

“Summer schools are obviously only one strand of education recovery and the government will need to invest in a much more significant long-term plan to support children and young people in the wake of the pandemic - as the education secretary has acknowledged.”

National Education Union joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said: “We urge the government to give local authorities the funding and support to create teams who can co-ordinate the summer provision across the whole local authority area.

“This is the best approach. Schools should not be expected to co-ordinate and plan these summer placements.”

But he added: “There is welcome clarity in today’s advice that schools can adopt the plans which best suit their situation.

“Many secondaries already allow sports and other clubs to use their premises during the holidays and run extended provision outside school hours.

“Year 7 pupils will have a complicated transition this autumn, so it is sensible to pay particular attention to this year group...

“We welcome the DfE making crystal clear that any teachers who volunteer to take part in summer provision are eligible for payment and that supply staff and support staff must be paid.”