On Friday, it was an honour to welcome the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to Highgate Wood – a fantastic school in my constituency.
The head teacher Patrick Cozier and I greeted Nick at the gates, and then had a meeting to discuss how the school is using its Pupil Premium money.
The Pupil Premium is a Liberal Democrat flagship policy that is being delivered by the Coalition Government. It targets extra money to schools depending on the number of children from disadvantaged backgrounds they have.
Schools will receive £900 per eligible pupil. For Highgate Wood, this means a whopping £413,100 in extra funding for 2013/14.
Already, the school is doing great things with the extra money – for instance taking on new staff to support children with troubled backgrounds and subsidising school trip fees for poorer pupils. I can’t wait to see what they do with this year’s increased allocation.
After the meeting, Nick and I were shown around the school and popped into some lessons – history, English and food tech. It certainly brought back memories! We ended the visit by looking around a fantastic art and photography exhibition, put together by 6th form students.
After the visit, the head teacher commented – “It’s a complete honour to have someone as significant as Nick Clegg to come to the school and to see what we’re doing. The Pupil Premium is great for the school. It allows students from disadvantaged backgrounds to engage in activities and get individual support to make progress.”
Nick said: “It is great feeling for a politician to come to school and actually see how ideas like the Pupil Premium – which I have fought for as a politician – are working out in reality. Highgate Wood is a great school, and I’ve been hugely impressed by what I have seen today.”
A great day all round!
Lynne Featherstone 
Hello Lynne,
Some interesting questions posted on your site that don’t seem to have been answered…
http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2011/12/more-pupil-premium-money-for-haringeys-schools.htm
It’d be great if you could spend a little time on these sort of questions ahead of engaging in more LD PR opportunities.
Clegg is a lame duck and must be dumped before next election. Strategy needs to be coalition with Labour. Who’s to lead the LibDems ? Go for it Lynne and bring politics back down to earth
Clegg is not a lame duck, true he has had a very difficult period, in the main suddenly finding himself as a leader of a party in Government, in coalition, and with a party the Lib Dems would not have expected to work with, when before the General Election he probably expected to be leader of a third party in opposition. Also he faces an unfriendly right wing media ( i see my Mother in Laws Daily Mail several times a week) who do their best to distort what he says. ( they cannot get over the fact that the Conservatives did not get an outright majority) As long as he leads the Lib Dems and shows a clear set of LIBERAL policies and principals running up to the next General Election he will do well.