MP welcomes Pupil Premium: £¾ million to lift poorest pupils

Local MP, Andrew George, said he believes that the extra £¾ million going to help the most disadvantaged in local schools will make a reasonable difference. He has welcomed the release of the final Pupil Premium figures.

Every school this year will receive an extra £58 for each child which receives free school meals. The Department for Education also announced last week that this year’s Pupil Premium will increase to £488.

Schools in Mr George’s St Ives constituency will get an extra £776,000 from the Pupil Premium to improve education for the most disadvantaged children.

Mr George said: “The Liberal Democrats devised and campaigned for this policy. It was at the heart of our Coalition negotiations. This money will go directly to classrooms. Its purpose is to give help where it is needed; to help close the unacceptable gap between the life chances of advantaged and disadvantaged children. This has been a longstanding Liberal Democrat policy and was one of our four key manifesto pledges.

“The Pupil Premium is designed to have two beneficial effects. Firstly, because the extra money follows the child, it will ensure that funding to help alleviate deprivation is better targeted than it is now.

“Second, the premium will deliver additional money to the schools with the highest level of challenges.”

News of the extra cash comes after Ministers recently announced that the total funding available for the Pupil Premium in 2012-13 will rise to £1.25bn, double the amount in 2011-12. It will rise again each year until 2014-15 when it will be worth £2.5bn.