Extra funds for schools in deprived areas announced

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-33367501

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Seven councils are to share £11m to help children from less well off communities perform better in schools.

The councils are the first to receive allocations from the Scottish government's attainment fund.

Children from poorer backgrounds are more likely to fall behind in the basics and less likely to get Highers or go to university.

The councils getting cash include Clackmannanshire, Dundee and Glasgow.

The funding targets local authorities with the highest concentration of primary age pupils living in deprived areas.

Since February, each council has developed improvement plans focused on raising attainment and identifying areas where specific improvement is needed.

The government said these locally-agreed plans set out what schools in the most deprived communities will do to support children so they get the same chance to succeed at school and in life as their peers from better-off backgrounds.

Each council is expected to invest in activity that will help close the attainment gap and report regularly to the Scottish government on what works. The new Education Bill proposes making raising attainment a statutory duty for the first time.

Education Secretary Angela Constance visited Clackmannanshire to find out more about how the money would be used there.

The investment will be targeted towards literacy and numeracy, leadership in schools and engagement with parents and carers.

Ms Constance said: "We know school education in Scotland is getting better. Official figures published last month showed the percentage of young people leaving school to go into work, education or training is at a record high, with the vast majority of pupils are reaching SCQF level 3 literacy and numeracy or above.

"Our new Scottish Attainment Challenge will play a key role in delivering further improvements, from Glasgow, Scotland's largest local authority, to here in Clackmannanshire, the 'wee' county.

"Good things are happening in all seven of these local authorities, and more widely across Scotland, but our fund will intensify efforts to drive improvement where it is needed, with a sharper focus on earlier intervention to close the attainment gap.

"Through measures such as this fund, the provisions in our Education (Scotland) Bill and the development of a National Improvement Framework, we will do all we can to raise attainment and give our young people the best start possible."

Critics argue the government has had eight years to improve performance in schools but note how the most recent numeracy and literacy statistics suggested that things had been going the wrong way.

The other councils getting cash are Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, and North Lanarkshire.