Schools across Edinburgh will receive £925,243 from the Scottish Attainment Challenge fund in 2018/19 to help boost attainment levels. This will be used by local schools to help those who need it most.
Overcoming educational inequality is one of most important challenges for this parliament and the Scottish Attainment Challenge fund aims to ensure children and young people fulfil their potential no matter their circumstances.
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills John Swinney MSP announced this week that nine councils and 74 individual schools will share an additional £50 million of new funding from the Scottish Attainment Challenge fund.
This new investment brings the total Attainment Scotland Fund to £170 million this year – helping raise attainment in schools across the country.
Mr Swinney said: “Improving the education and life chances of our children and young people is the defining mission of this government.
“Central to this is the Scottish Attainment Challenge which is supporting hundreds of schools to develop approaches to improve literacy, numeracy and health and well-being that raise attainment and help close the poverty-related gap”.
Many schools in Edinburgh Northern and Leith have benefitted from the Scottish Attainment Challenge Fund. For example, Leith Academy received nearly £100,000 from the Pupil Equity Fund last year, and in 2016/17 Granton Primary received £10,000 from the Innovation Fund. Both of these funds are part of Scottish Attainment Challenge funding.
SNP MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Ben Macpherson, said: “I welcome this SNP Scottish Government investment of nearly £1 million in Edinburgh’s schools, which will help raise attainment and lead to greater educational equality.
“We want to ensure that every child in Edinburgh Northern and Leith has the best possible start in life, no matter their background.
“We now have hundreds more teachers in classrooms the length and breadth of Scotland as a direct result of the Attainment Scotland Fund, and this continued investment by the SNP Scottish Government will help us raise the bar higher still.”
“Education is vital for reducing inequality and this is an investment that will bring benefits to the whole community.”
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