Meeting of the Parliament 27 January 2016
Schools in the Borders and East Ayrshire would benefit to the tune of over £100,000 a year.
The proposal would lead to a transformational change in the future of the children concerned and a transformational change in our country’s future, which is why we think that it is worth not just the support of Opposition parties but of the Government.
I move amendment S4M-15430.2, to leave out from first “pupil premium” to end and insert:
“fair start fund for children from poorer families in nursery and primary education would ensure that every child from poorer families gets the required support to catch up with the rest, no matter where they live or go to school; notes that Scottish Labour’s proposed fair start fund would link funding to children and ensure that every school has an attainment fund equal to its needs; further notes that it would be used to tackle the attainment gap by allocating £1,000 for each primary school pupil and £300 for each nursery school pupil from a deprived background, with decisions on how this money should be spent taken by head teachers; is deeply concerned that currently in Scotland more than 6,000 children leave primary school unable to read properly, more than one quarter of three and four-year-olds at nursery do not have access to a qualified teacher and that the OECD found that the achievement gap between the most and least deprived is growing; understands that the Scottish Government’s flagship Attainment Challenge Fund misses the vast majority of pupils who need support, with at least 1,500 schools in Scotland and one third of local authorities not receiving any of this funding at all, and believes that the half a billion pounds of cuts to local services such as schools coming from the Scottish Government’s budget means there is a real risk that pupils already at a disadvantage will get left even further behind.”
Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.
- S4M-15430.2 Education Motion