Perthshire North MSP, John Swinney, has today announced that 65 Primary schools and 10 secondary schools throughout Perth and Kinross will receive a share of over £1.6Million in extra funding as part of the Scottish Government’s drive to improve standards in schools.

The share each school is due to receive from the Scottish Government’s new £120 million Pupil Equity Fund was revealed by Mr Swinney, earlier today (Wednesday 1 February 2017). Schools in Perthshire North, including North Muirton Primary School, Rattray Primary School and Coupar Angus Primary School, are set to benefit from tens of thousands of pounds of additional funding as a result of the Funding announced.

It will be up to teachers and school leaders to decide the best way of using the funding to close the poverty related attainment gap in their schools.

Speaking about the funding, Mr Swinney said:

“Every child in Scotland should have the best possible start in life, and it is unacceptable for children from the poorest backgrounds to have their chances limited by circumstances outside their control.

“The SNP in government has made closing the poverty-related attainment gap our number one priority, and our new £120 million Pupil Equity Fund is aimed at doing just that – supporting 65 primaries and 10 secondaries in Perth and Kinross and 1928 primaries and 358 secondaries across Scotland.

“I am very pleased that schools throughout my constituency will benefit from this additional funding. Parents, teachers and school leaders will now have the opportunity to use this funding to help both reduce the poverty related attainment gap in their schools and also help to drive up standards and tackle the inter-generational cycle of deprivation in their school.”