Ex-soldiers sent into schools to improve pupil behaviour Activities run by the groups will include one-to-one mentoring to help address discipline issues, the introduction of military-style obstacle courses to motivate hard-to-teach pupils, team-building sessions to encourage teamwork and confidence-building exercises to help children cope with the transition from primary to secondary school. Academics analysed the effect of a project run by Commando Joe's - a Manchester-based project in which trained mentors are sent into the classroom - and found that 56 per cent of pupils taking part raised their maths grades while 70 per cent showed improvement in writing. Elizabeth Truss, the Education Minister, said: "The lives of thousands of disengaged children have been turned around thanks to these projects which instil our wonderful Armed Forces" values of hard work and discipline. That is why we are increasing the funding going to these important projects - so that even more children can benefit from the military ethos. The Department for Education said £4.8m was being invested in six projects in which charities send former servicemen into schools to run activities. These are Commando Joe's in Greater Manchester, Challenger Troop in Kent, SkillForce in Newcastle, Knowsley Skills Academy in Merseyside and two national charities - The Prince's Trust and CVQO. In the past, military-style teaching programmes have been launched in 300 primary and secondary schools, involving more than 8,000 of the "most challenging pupils," ministers said.