Schools: Pupil Premium

Lord Bishop of Wakefield Excerpts

Monday 3rd February 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

Funding is tight, as my noble friend will know, and we have no plans to do that in the near term.

[The Lord Bishop of Wakefield]

My Lords, can the Minister tell us whether the Government are considering ways in which an increase in the pupil premium can be targeted at the forms of deprivation most difficult to address? Rural deprivation, for example, particularly in church schools, is very significant in our part of West Yorkshire, in the Diocese of Wakefield.

[Lord Nash]

The right reverend Prelate is quite right to point out the problems with rural deprivation; it is similar to coastal deprivation. There are particular schemes that schools follow: mentoring; systemic feedback; much more involvement of parents; early intervention, particularly using the better teachers; and peer tutoring. Much can be learnt from groups like Ark, whose academy in Portsmouth, for instance, which is in a classic coastal town, has improved results in four years from 24% to 68%.