Out-of-school care receives £25m in grants

* Out-of-hours childcare is to benefit from more than £25m worth of awards announced last week by the New Opportunities Fund (NOF). Grants totalling nearly £19m will fund 46,725 out-of-school places, and £6.1m will go to learning projects at 966 schools. NOF chief executive Stephen Dunmore said, 'Many of the schemes will operate in the summer holidays. They will help children, many of whom are disadvantaged or have special needs, to develop their literacy, numeracy, and social skills through activities as diverse as music, professional football coaching, film making, ceramics, choirs and IT.'