MSP welcomes Holyrood cash to help children living in poverty succeed at school

More than £45 million of Pupil Equity Funding will be provided by the Scottish Government to primary and secondary schools across Scotland in a bid to help pupils from low-income backgrounds succeed at school.

In total the Scottish Attainment Challenge has committed to providing £750 million during the life of the current Scottish Parliament.

It prioritises improvements in literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing of children who are adversely affected by poverty in Scotland’s schools.

This latest funding round of funding takes the challenge’s Authorities and Schools Programme into its third successive year.

Nine local authorities and an additional 72 individual schools have been allocated funding for education initiatives and projects targeting Scotland’s most deprived children.

Mr Lyle said: “Improving the education and life chances of our children and young people is the defining mission of the SNP in government.

“The Scottish Government are providing £750 million during the course of this Parliament to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap – and schools in North Lanarkshire will benefit to the tune of £7,774,966 this year through our Attainment Challenge.

“This latest round of funding will ensure that schools where the need is greatest have substantial additional funding available to them for the coming year to improve literacy, numeracy and health and well-being.

“I’m delighted that schools in North Lanarkshire are benefitting from this funding, which is targeted to improve the life chances of children and young people across Scotland.”