Kingston schools to benefit from investment in disadvantaged pupils

Additional money will be spent in London schools on children from deprived backgrounds, it has been announced.

The current 'pupil premium' for eligible children is £480. This will rise to £600 next year, and will now include children that have been registered for free school meals in the past six years.

According to the Department for Education, only 32.5 percent of children in receipt of free school meals achieve five or more good GCSEs, compared with 64 percent of youngsters not receiving school meals.

Figures show that 3,290 children in Kingston are eligible for the pupil premium, and so an illustrative £1.9 million is available for Kingston schools to help tackle the ties between deprivation and poor grades.

Kingston Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford said: "No child born in London in the 21st century should have their fate decided by their family's wage packet.

"I believe that in a fair society a Government should work to overcome this disadvantage and help children reach their full potential. The money will be ploughed into additional tuition, better IT resources and closer work with parents."

Each school will decide how the pupil premium is spent as they are best-placed to assess what additional provision should be made from pupils within their responsibility.