Extra boarding places for vulnerable children

The Department for Children, Schools and Families  (DCSF) will provide start-up costs of up to £10,000 to councils that will work with children's trusts to identify children who could benefit, junior schools minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry said.
The decision follows an evaluation of a two-year "pathfinder" programme, which trialled the benefits of boarding schools for children in need or those on the verge of going into care.
The evaluation concluded that a placement can be very effective for some children but they need to be carefully matched.
Ten authorities and 70 schools took part. Seventy-six young people were considered and 17 were placed. Eleven were still at school when the evaluation, by the Thomas Coram Research Unit, finished.
The report said that for the children that took part, "there were clear indications of both educational and social benefits".
The pathfinder scheme has been criticised for the small number of children who were actually placed, but the government is claiming that if every local authority used the option, between 2,000 and 3,000 children could be helped.
Hilary Moriarty, national director of the Boarding Schools' Association, which worked with the DCSF on the pathfinder project, said: "There has been disappointment that the numbers have been so few."
The evaluation argues that local authorities might need to do more to identify a large range of young people who could benefit.