Schools learn how much additional equity funding they will get

School - Dave Thompson/PA 

Individual schools across Scotland have learned how much additional funding they will get to tackle the attainment gap between children from wealthy and deprived backgrounds.

The allocations of the Scottish Government’s £120m attainment fund were announced by Education Secretary John Swinney this morning, and will be handed directly to head teachers.

The amount is based on how many pupils a school roll are entitled to free school meals.

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The published list shows 2,513 schools will benefit from the scheme, the majority of schools in Scotland.

Glasgow city schools, with 18,000 eligible pupils, will receive a £21.6m boost, while their Edinburgh counterparts will receive £7.5m for their 6,227 pupils receiving free school meals.

The money will be spent at the discretion of teachers and school leaders.

Swinney said: “We are providing additional ring-fenced funding which will enable individual schools to target support where it is needed the most.

“The allocations I am announcing today will let parents, teachers and school leaders see how much funding their schools will receive in 2017-18 to help break the inter-generational cycle of deprivation.

“The Pupil Equity Funding is on top of the existing £50 million Attainment Scotland funding and in addition to the action being taken by this Government to raise standards for all and make the improvements that are necessary to make Scottish education world-class.”

The scheme was originally to be paid for by changes to the council tax but then the Scottish Government agreed it should be centrally funded.

Council leaders have said the funding will not replace cuts to local authority budgets. 

Labour education spokesperson Daniel Johnson said: "Ministers cannot cut the gap between the richest and the rest while they slash £327 million from local education budgets across Scotland.

“Head teachers will see this new funding alongside shrinking budgets, so it’s simply SNP spin after £1.4 billion of cuts since 2011."

You can check how much each individual school will receive here