Haringey’s schools are set to receive an extra £4.5million after the Liberal Democrats announced major investment for schools in Haringey through the Pupil Premium this week.
In its first year, the programme will target £625m extra funding to the poorest children in school, with this figure rising to £2.5bn each year, by the end of this Parliament.
In year one, every school is guaranteed an extra £430 from the Government for every child on free school meals and every looked-after child.
Commenting, Lynne Featherstone MP for Hornsey and Wood Green said:
“The pupil premium provides more money for disadvantaged children and means a better deal for Haringey schools.”
“By helping some of the most disadvantaged children, we can help whole school classes work together better and move forward faster. This is great news for children, parents and teachers alike.”
Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Cllr Rachel Allison adds:
“The premium gives Headteachers in Haringey the freedom to use the money how they want, in the ways they know work – not how politicians in Whitehall tell them to.”
“Enabling children from disadvantaged backgrounds to have the best possible start in life was a key pledge of the Liberal Democrats going into the last general election. The pupil premium delivers on this pledge – by providing schools with £430 for every disadvantaged child on top of existing pupil funding.”
Lynne Featherstone
Lynne Featherstone 
Flat-rate funding for the pupil premium will increase inequalities for disadvantaged London children (i.e. teachers – and everything else – costs more in London – so £430 buys much less of a teacher than it does, say, in the West Country). Perhaps then you could explain how £430 will ensure children have the ‘best start in life’?
Also – you used the word ‘extra’ repeatedly, but Michael Gove has said that school budgets are not rising, so the pupil premium doesn’t seem to be extra money at all. This does also seem to mean that schools with less children on free school meals will face cuts (to balance the change in the way funds are distributed). This may well be justified in policy terms but your blog doesn’t mention this. Would love to hear an explanation or clarification if you know something Gove doesn’t? (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11983026).
This is really disappointing news:
http://www.cypnow.co.uk/bulletins/Daily-Bulletin/news/1047186/?DCMP=EMC-DailyBulletin
Haringey pays teachers inner London rates but is funded on a formula that is based upon the salary rates of local residents. The area cost adjustment therefore rewards boroughs like Richmond upon Thames at the expense of poorer outer London boroughs. Lynne has been fully aware of this and in the forefront of a campaign to get this changed.