A PROJECT to reach out to deprived children across Barrow has been awarded a quarter of a million pounds of lottery funding.

Inspiring Barrow has been granted £249,489 to run a three-year project to reach out to Barrow children to raise their aspirations and confidence.

The scheme, funded by the Big Lottery Reaching Communities Fund is set to begin its second cycle after it's initial three-year run was a success.

Andrew Bass, the business development officer for the Cumbria Council for Voluntary Service spoke about the reasons behind the project.

"From research taken, it was highlighted that there was a lack of aspiration in 10 to 14-year-old children in the Barrow education system.

"A lot of it is through no fault of their own," said Mr Bass.

Crime and deprivation are not the only reasons that are impacting the futures of Barrow's children.

Young parents, long-term unemployment in families or parents that act as carers can all have an impact on the confidence and aspiration of young children.

Mr Bass said: "Sometimes just parents working to keep their families afloat, it leaves them little time to take care of their children."

The organisation is not looking to place blame at the doors of parents or schools, but to be a positive force to change the lives of young people.

In order to do this the project will coordinate local schools and businesses to identify the children at most risk of being left behind.

Mr Bass said: "It's about the teachers knowing there is a child with low confidence or problems with aspiration.

"We're not worried about teachers missing the signs, we've got really high-quality teachers in this town who have to deal with limited resources."

The scheme will bring children together from across the area to take part in workshops run in partnership between schools and businesses such as BAE, GSK and Centrica.

Inspiring Barrow found out that when children grow in confidence their participation in class nearly always increases.

Mr Bass said: "Getting confidence and participation up in school is key.

"What we saw in the first three years of our programme was that suddenly they were engaging in classroom activities."

The scheme has embraced social media as a way of communicating with parents and children.

Workshop times will be sent via platforms such as Facebook as well as by conventional means.

"In terms of making sure parents know when sessions will run, social seems to work well," said Mr Bass.

The scheme is expected to reach between 500 and 700 children between 2016 and 2019.

Read more about projects that are changing the life of Barrow's young people