£1m schools budget boost (From Basingstoke Gazette)

£1m schools budget boost

2:00pm Tuesday 8th November 2011 in Education By Emily Roberts

BASINGSTOKE schools will receive more than £1million from the Government to help deprived pupils.

Liberal Democrat children and families minister Sarah Teather announced the extra money each school will gain through the Pupil Premium this year, which has increased by £58 per child to £488.

The cash boost has been announced because fewer than expected children have registered for free school meals.

The premium was a policy devised by the Lib Dems for children eligible for free school meals, with the funding going to the school or academy via the local authority.

It will double from £625m to £1.25billion in 2012-2013 and rise again each year until 2014-2015, at which point it will be worth £2.5bn.

Ms Teather said: “The Pupil Premium will benefit poorer pupils, providing extra money directly for those pupils who need it the most.

“We know that just 27 per cent of pupils on free school meals get five good GCSE grades compared with 54 per cent of non-free school meal pupils.

“This extra funding will help tackle this inequality and enable schools to provide the extra support they need to reach their full potential.”

In The Gazette area, schools will receive a total of £1,077,504 of Pupil Premium funding.

Chiltern Primary School in Chiltern Way, Buckskin, will receive the highest amount among Basingstoke primary schools, with £41,968. There are 33.9 per cent of pupils eligible for the cash at the school – a total of 86 out of 254 on roll.

South View Infant School, in Shooters Way, South View, will receive £35,624, with 37.4 per cent of pupils eligible, and Marnel Junior School, in Shetland Road, Popley, will be given £36,600.

Everest Community Academy, in Oxford Way, Popley, is set to benefit from £83,936 of the funding, with more than a quarter of its pupils eligible for the extra cash.

Lib Dem Whitchurch borough councillor Eric Dunlop said the money would make “an even bigger difference for our local children.” Cllr Dunlop is a governor at Testbourne Community School, in Micheldever Road, Whitchurch, which will gain £14,152.

He added: “Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are three times less likely to achieve five good GCSEs than their more well-off classmates. Education is the best way to end the under-achievement of disadvantaged pupils through supporting children from early years straight through to secondary school.”