Alistair Cameron says give children the individual attention they need by cutting class sizes

5.47.00pm GMT Mon 1st Feb 2010

To give every child a fair start, Liberal Democrats will spend an extra £2.5bn on schools.

The money will be targeted at schools taking on children who need more help,

but will benefit every child in every school.

The existing methods for distributing deprivation related funding are confusing

and inconsistent. Nearly one in three Free School Meal pupils at secondary

school attend relatively affluent secondary schools . Area based targeting

therefore misses a large proportion of the poorest pupils - including in many

rural areas.

Take, for example, a school like Tewkesbury School, with a roll of around 2,000

pupils. It could expect around £800,000 more every year than it gets now,

which would have an enormous impact. They could recruit a dozen extra teachers

and cut classes to 16. Or they could pay for catch-up classes for 320 pupils,

making sure no-one who struggles gets left behind

Alistair Cameron, Working and Campaigning for you.

Published and promoted by Audrey Ricks on behalf of Alistair Cameron and Tewkesbury Liberal Democrats.