THREE secondary schools will receive more than a half million pounds worth of funding this year- in order to help their most deprived pupils improve their reading, writing and numeracy skills.

The cash from the Scottish Government will also see 'assisted support' hubs created so that struggling S1 pupils at Dumbarton Academy, Vale of Leven Academy and Our Lady and St Patrick's High School receive a helping hand during their academic studies.

In total five schools, which also includes St Peter the Apostle High School and Clydebank High School, will receive a share of funding worth £2.8m over the next four years.

And it's hoped that hundreds of pupils, who come from deprived backgrounds across West Dunbartonshire, will reap the benefits.

The money is being provided from the Scottish Attainment Challenge Fund which this year made more than £11m available to the local authorities with the highest number of young people living in deprived areas.

The money will now be used by West Dunbartonshire Council to target resources where they are needed most.

The Reporter understand that the money will be used to fund three key projects.

These projects will be specifically aimed at those pupils who come from a deprived background, and attempt to raise their education levels and improve their health and wellbeing.

Parents/guardians will have a role to play too, as one of the projects being looked at is the creation of a youth and family engagement hub, along with nurture classes and skills academies, aimed at providing practical experience.

In addition, the funding will support additional posts and offer leadership opportunities to experienced staff.

The multi-agency hub is also expected to provide access to a youth worker, or pupil and family support worker.

It will also be used for family learning and support and enable access to other services- including counselling and mentoring- as well as money, benefits and employment information/advice.

Part of the project also involves 'nurture classes' where small learning groups will be provided targeted lessons in literacy and numeracy for S1 pupils who need additional support.

And 'skills academies' are expected to be formed with the aim of providing pupils with inspiration and hands-on experience in a range of potential careers such as engineering, hospitality, the arts and digital industries.

More details about the projects are their formation are expected to be announced in due course.

But it's understood the initiatives will be piloted in the coming months, then rolled out to all schools at the start of the new session in 2018.

Councillor John Mooney, Depute Convener of Educational Services, said: "I’m delighted we’ve been able to secure this additional funding which will provide new opportunities and additional support for our secondary school pupils.

"The innovative projects developed by our education staff are going to make a huge difference to our secondary pupils and ensure those who need the support most can access it."

It's the second major funding announcement, aimed at closing the attainment gap in West Dunbartonshire, in the last 14 months.

In August 2015, the Council received £4m investment from the Scottish Attainment Challenge Fund.

Delivered over four years, the money is funding extra teachers in primary schools across the area, and four new innovative education projects including a family learning hub.

Councillor Michelle McGinty, Convener of Educational Services, said: "As a Council, we are committed to closing the attainment gap and ensuring all of our pupils achieve their potential, regardless of their background.

"Our projects in primary schools are delivering results but evidence shows that the attainment gap widens between primary and secondary and we are determined to address this.

"This funding will strengthen the work which is ongoing in our secondary schools and introduce new initiatives to further support our pupils to attain and achieve."

Nationally, the funding will enable up to 133 secondary schools- with pupils living in areas of deprivation- to improve their literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: "Delivering equity and excellence across Scotland’s education system is this government’s defining mission.

"I am firmly committed to substantially closing the gap in the attainment of pupils from our most and least deprived areas during the lifetime of this parliament.

"The funding we are allocating to secondary schools is part of the additional £750 million we will make available to support schools to close the attainment gap over the same period.

"It will enable more than a hundred secondary schools to improve literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing through a range of projects devised by the schools themselves.

"This builds on our existing work with hundreds of primary schools to ensure no child or young person in Scotland is held back because of their background."

The reason West Dunbartonshire is receiving the helping hand is because it is known as a 'Challenge Authority,' an area with high levels of deprivation.

Scotland’s nine challenge authorities were invited to submit proposals to support secondary schools in their area.

The challenge authorities are Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire, East Ayrshire and Renfrewshire.

And an additional 28 secondary schools, who are not in Challenge Authority areas, were invited to submit proposals because they receive children from primary schools currently in receipt of challenge funding, and have more than 20% of children in areas of multiple deprivation.

West Dunbartonshire Councillor Jim Bollan welcomed the fresh investment this week but said more "radical" policies need to be introduced in order to not only tackle the attainment gap, but rising poverty levels too.

He said: "While the additional resources are welcome the “attainment gap” is affected by much more that what children are taught at school.

"With one in four local children living in poverty this money, whilst welcome, will not affect this or the social exclusion poverty brings with it as more and more families struggle to make ends meet.

"To underpin investment in the “Education attainment gap” we need radical redistributive policies to really begin to tackle poverty and the ever increasing number of the working poor."