Schools in Bristol stand to lose £1.5 million after the government’s decision to change the method of calculating pupil premium funding.
Pupil premium is designed to allow schools to help more disadvantaged pupils by improving their progress and the exam results they achieve. Primary schools receive £1,345 per pupil and secondaries get £955.
But in this time of pandemic, Ministers decided to base funding on the number of pupils who had free school meal in October, rather than January as in previous years.
This means that the 1357 pupils who became eligible after the November lockdown and Christmas restrictions hit household budgets will miss out on this support.
Dan Norris said: “The Tories had to be shamed into feeding kids on free school meals in the holidays, now they’re cutting funding to support them in school. A lot of children have had a tough time during the pandemic and they need support so they can catch up of missed learniing and school’s can prioritise their wellbeing post-pandemic. Those early years are so important so that we can build of the skilled, resiliant workforce of the future.”