Wednesday February 1st 2017
Schools in Midlothian will benefit from a £2,272,800 funding boost as part of the Scottish Government’s drive to improve standards in schools, it has been revealed.
The share each school is due to receive from the Scottish Government’s new £120 million Pupil Equity Fund has been revealed by Deputy First Minister John Swinney.
32 primaries, 6 secondaries and 1 special school in Midlothian are set to receive additional support worth thousands of pounds. It will be up to teachers and school leaders to decide the best way of using the funding to close the poverty related attainment gap in their schools.
When the fund was previously discussed in September Midlothian Council only expected to get £0.8m and were concerned that the majority of Council tax money raised locally would be spent in other parts of Scotland. However, the SNP government u-turned on diverting council tax money and instead agreed to fund the money from a central pot.
Welcoming the announcement, Midlothian South MSP, Christine Grahame said:
“Every child in Scotland should have the best possible start in life, and it is unacceptable for children from the poorest backgrounds to have their chances limited by circumstances outside their control. This funding is an important step in tackling the inter-generational cycle of deprivation in our schools.”
Midlothian North and Musselburgh MSP, Colin Beattie commented:
“The SNP in government has made closing the poverty-related attainment gap our number one priority, and our new £120 million Pupil Equity Fund is aimed at doing just that – supporting schools across Midlothian. This new announcement will let parents, teachers and school leaders in see how much funding they can expect to drive up standards and make necessary improvements.”
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