New figures show that disadvantaged children in my constituency are set to receive £1.4 million this year under the Coalition Government's new "Pupil Premium."
The Pupil Premium is a new policy promised by both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats before the General Election last year. It is an extra lump sum of cash which follows every disadvantaged child and is received by schools, allowing them to provide additional support such as one-to-one tuition and extra pastoral care.
The Government has announced that in the year from April 2011, the Pupil Premium will be worth £430 for every pupil on Free School Meals, £430 for every looked-after child, and £200 for every child who has a parent in the Armed Services. This means that in the Brentford and Isleworth constituency this year 3,230 children overall will benefit from an extra £1,389,000.
This is good news for children in our area. The gap between the academic performance of children from deprived backgrounds and their peers is too wide and has been ignored for too long.
In the last month, reports estimate that a third of children in Brentford are living in poverty. The Pupil Premium will tackle this disparity head on, providing targeted funding for those who need it most. This could mean extra one-to-one tuition or more pastoral support.
In these tough times, the Pupil Premium will deliver a massive boost to the education of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children locally.
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