Nearly 3,400 South Gloucestershire pupils are to benefit from a £1.5m funding boost.
Following analysis of the January 2011 annual school census, South Gloucestershire Council has now confirmed to schools how each of them are set to benefit from the Coalition Government’s flagship ‘pupil premium’, which aims to target extra resources at the most disadvantaged school children.
The ‘pupil premium’ was a key Conservative Party manifesto commitment in the May 2010 General Election.
There are three strands to the premium: the first is for children from a deprived background, and the second is for ‘Looked After Children’. For both of these, the premium is £430 each in 2011/12. The third premium is for children of armed service personnel, and this is worth £200 per service pupil.
The ‘pupil premium’ funding builds on the council’s recently-approved three-year £30m school buildings investment programme.
In welcoming the news, Cllr Sheila Cook, the council’s Conservative schools chief, said:
“We know that education’s real power lies in its ability to transform life chances and so I am delighted to see that the district’s primary and secondary schools are to get a share of South Gloucestershire’s £1.5m pupil premium allocation.
The pupil premium was an important Conservative manifesto commitment and its implementation means that thousands of South Gloucestershire children will receive the targeted help they need to succeed and achieve their full potential.”
Based on the latest data from the January 2011 annual school census, 3,374 qualifying children have been identified, adding up to a total pupil premium allocation of £1,445,660 in 2011/12.
The district’s three academies receive their allocation direct from the Department for Education.
Source: Conservative Group on South Gloucestershire Council
