We are committed to reducing inequality and closing the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers across the country by breaking down the barriers to social mobility and socio-economic backgrounds.
We want to see more disadvantaged young people participating in our programmes, attending our finals, being inspired and progressing through to the most rewarding careers in STEM.
To be eligible you need to:
1. Have more than 25% Free School Meals in your school
2. Be one of the 12 Opportunity Areas highlighted by the Government
- West Somerset
- Norwich
- Blackpool
- North Yorkshire coast
- Derby
- Oldham
- Bradford
- Doncaster
- Fenland and East Cambridgeshire
- Hastings
- Ipswich
- Stoke-on-Trent
We are proud to be working with sponsors who enable teams from disadvantaged backgrounds to participate in the FIRST® LEGO® League programmes - FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge, FIRST® LEGO® League Explore and FIRST® LEGO® League Discover; as well as in our Faraday Challenge Days.
FIRST® LEGO® League
“On the tube back home, they were all discussing what they would do differently and how they would continue next year if they were to do it again. As a result, FIRST® LEGO® League is continuing as an after school club and we are hoping to develop our current work to share with the whole school and parents during Science Week."
“We had a fantastic first year and are excited for year 2 now we know what to do! We won a trophy for best project which was totally unexpected. We’ve also organised a LEGO® Friendly between local schools that entered the main competition so that we can keep our skill set ticking over for year.”
Funding packages
A number of funding packages are available across all three FIRST® LEGO League® divisions for educational institutes, home schoolers and other youth groups.
IET Faraday® Challenge Day
Our IET Faraday programme is completely free to all schools. We receive funding specifically aimed at disadvantaged schools.
Your school would be prioritised if you were to apply. During the 2018-19 IET Faraday® Challenge Day season we reached 66 disadvantaged schools and despite having over half the challenge season cancelled during the 2019-20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic we still managed to reach 47 disadvantaged schools.
"Taking part in the competition gave the children a chance to mix with peers they wouldn’t normally spend time with and promoted team work and problem solving within a unique setting- at school and as part of the competition day.”
Please apply using the usual process and we will determine if you fall within our criteria and prioritise you if you are a disadvantaged school.
We’re sure you are aware that this funding is solely to widen the opportunity to children experiencing hardship and to broaden opportunities. We trust that as teachers you will use this opportunity to reach the children on Pupil Premium, children experiencing hardship, or who may face, or have faced challenges or obstacles in their lives.