Chris Black had the following email from Lib Dem government minister Sarah Teather today:
Dear Christopher
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Today the government unveiled further details of the Pupil Premium ? a key Liberal Democrat policy which will ensure the most disadvantaged children in our country get the help they need.
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From April next year every school in England will get ?430 for each child in their school on Free School Meals. Based on latest estimates this will mean at least an extra ?414,090 for schools to spend on the students who need it most in Rayleigh & Wickford.
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Please let friends and parents know how the Pupil Premium will help children in Rayleigh & Wickford.
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Each year between now and 2015 the amount spent in your constituency will rise ? by 2015 we will be spending a total of ?2.5bn nationally on the pupil premium.
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This is money on top of what is already being allocated for schoolchildren ? no school will lose money as result of the Pupil Premium. And it will be given to Head Teachers to spend at their discretion on what they think works best for their school ? be it extra one to one classes, breakfast clubs or after-school clubs.
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The Pupil Premium was one of four key front page manifesto commitments on which we fought the last General Election. Making it a reality will help improve the social mobility and life chances of hundreds of thousands of children from less privileged backgrounds over the coming years.
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That is the real difference our party is making in government.
.Best wishes,
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Sarah Teather MP
Minister of State, Department for Education
Chris adds: Councillors get a fair number of emails from the government nowadays, but this one seemed worth quoting…
Just because a child is eligable for free school meals and is from “a less privileged” background it does not necessarily mean they have fallen behind and need more money spent on them in schools.
Money should be spent on children that are not achieving the attainment levels for their age regardless of their background!!!
A poor child is not necessarily an under achiever and a middle class child not necessarily an over achiever.
There is talk of SEN budgets being cut and yet this is being introduced.Money should be spent on less able children to help them improve their grades and should be based on ability and not whether they get free meals or not!!