The New Opportunities Fund has awarded 22.3m this month throughout England, with another 2.1m for projects in Wales, 2m in Scotland and 450,000 in Northern Ireland.
Oakwood Integrated Primary School in Dunmurray, near Belfast, one of 11 projects to receive funding in Northern Ireland, has secured a grant of Pounds 33,800 to create 52 childcare places for children aged four to 14.
School principal Olwin Frost said the project was an important step towards creating local harmony in an area where there is currently no cross-community childcare available.
She added, 'Very often children who attend our school go back to a segregated area each day, so it is important that we provide our pupils with an extra opportunity to meet in a cross-community context.'
Among the 229 projects receiving grants across England is a scheme to provide out-of-hours care for the children of shift workers at St Helens and Knowsley Hospital NHS Trust. Thirty children aged three to 11 will benefit from the 20,700 award for the facility, which will be open from 6.45am to 9.30pm with plans to extend it to weekends. The Trust's childcare co-ordinator, Joan Hardie, said, 'This initiative is needed to assist with the recruitment and retention of all grades of staff at the hospital. Childcare, particularly out-of-school care, can be very difficult and this will offer children quality care that is well supervised and stimulating.'
In Scotland, Lanarkshire Childcare Services received the biggest award, at more than 217,000, to create two new clubs and expand existing childcare provision to create 98 after-school, 44 before-school and 98 holiday places for children aged four to 14. Jacqui Collins, Lanarkshire Childcare Services manager, said the funding would enable 'affordable, accessible, quality provision of services to be accessed by families from rural and Social Inclusion Partnership areas'.
In Wales, 21 out-of-school hours clubs received funding. New Opportunities Fund board member Tom Davies said the clubs 'all have their own unique structure, but they are aiming for the same result and that's to provide high-quality childcare for their children while at the same time enabling parents to learn new skills or go to work'.