Lib Dems to invest in poor pupils

Released 01/03/2010

Leader Nick Clegg promise more funding to improve 'horribly unfair' situation

The Liberal Democrats would invest extra funds into England's deprived areas so that pupils can get a "fair start" at school.

The party's leader Nick Clegg described the current outcome for poor children as "horribly unfair".

He pledged to transform school funding with a £2.5bn "pupil premium" in which extra cash would follow poor pupils. This would mean an extra £2,500 for each child on free school meals but he insisted it would benefit all school children.

In a speech setting out his party's policies on education and inequality, Clegg said: "By age seven a bright but poor child will have been overtaken by his or her better off classmates.

"By age 16 poorer teenagers are only half as likely to get 5 good GCSEs as everyone else."

Whilst he acknowledged that the Labour government had put more money into the education system, he said it had failed poor children, particularly those from the inner cities.

Lib Dem research showed there was a huge variation in the performance of poor pupils living in different parts of the country, he added.

The pupil premium, the party's largest spending commitment, could lead to an average of £2,500 for every child on free school meals. It works by targeting extra funds at schools which take on children who need more help.

It would top up the existing basic per pupil funding and would follow a pupil if they switched schools.

An average primary school of 200 pupils, with an average number of children on free school meals, would have an extra £90,000 in its budget.

In an average secondary school, with 1,000 pupils it could mean an extra £400,000 every year. This could be used to recruit 12 extra teachers and cut class sizes to 16, or it could be used to pay for catch-up help for 160 pupils.

Source: BBC

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