CHILDREN from hard-up South Cheshire families will be paid to stay on at school.

About half of the area's 16-year-olds will soon be eligible to receive a cash grant to stay in education.

Under the Government's recently launched Education Maintenance Allowance scheme, Year 11 pupils can apply for an allowance of up to £30 a week, with the possibility of £100 bonuses during the year.

EMAs are means-tested and any 16-year-old in a household with an income of up to £30,000 a year will be eligible for one of the payments in September.

EMAs are designed to support young learners from families with lower incomes who might otherwise find it difficult to meet the costs associated with staying in full-time learning.

Experts say by leaving school at the first opportunity children risk being drawn into a cycle of low skilled, poorly paid employment due to their lack of qualifications and experience.

The scheme, managed by the Learning and Skills Council, has been piloted across a third of the country since 1999 and independent evaluation has shown it to be extremely successful.

Julia Dowd, executive director of the Learning and Skills Council for Cheshire and Warrington, said: 'EMAs aim to address financial barriers to young people staying in learning, particularly in families that are less well off. You can learn and earn at the same time.

'In Cheshire we're lucky in that the vast majority of young people stay in learning at 16. However, by the age of 17 some of these young people have dropped out, with one of the reasons being that they look around and see other people in work or paid training and want a bit of money in their own pockets.'

EMAs aren't just reserved for buying textbooks. The allowance can be spent on whatever the student chooses.

It could be used to offset the costs of transport, course materials or books, but ultimately the individual decides how to spend it.

But Julia added: 'It's not money for nothing. Both the regular allowance and any bonus payments depend on students meeting agreements they will have signed up to on regular attendance and what they hope to achieve.

'It's quite simple - if you stop going to college or don't work hard you won't get paid.

'We are trying to create a culture where, at age 16, staying on is the norm and dropping out the exception.

'By supporting young people from lower income families we are trying to tackle financial burdens, raise aspirations and help them achieve their potential.'

Year 11 pupils can pick up application forms from schools, colleges or branches of Connexions, down-load them from the EMA website http://www.dfes.gov.uk/financialhelp/ema, or telephone 080 810 16 2 19.