FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon came to an Alexandria school on Monday to see at first hand some of the innovative work being carried out to raise attainment in Scotland’s schools.

Ms Sturgeon visited Levenvale Primary School, to see how the school has used its share of the Pupil Equity Fund (PEF). A total of £120 million has been committed to the fund for schools across Scotland in this year’s draft budget.

As she stepped out of the Ministerial car she was met by Head Teacher, Simon Simpson, and a variety of pupils from a range of classes.

The West Dunbartonshire school received £57,000 from the fund, which has been of enormous benefit to the Argyll Street based school.

Levenvale has used PEF to recruit an additional teacher to improve literacy through Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) projects - £27k. They have allocated £5k in extra support to parents to help improve vocabulary development in their children, including parent and child book clubs and provided £7k for residential weekends for around 20 families. A further £12k has been used on Stages of Early Arithmetical Learning (SEAL).

During the tour of the school the First Minister visited the STEM class, and was introduced to nine-year-old P5 pupils Katie McFadzean and Niamh Clark (pictured), who explained their work on sound travel. She also examined projects in the class on hydropower, the Falkirk Wheel and the history of transport.

The First Minister encouraged the children to share their PEF projects on social media as part of the 120 days of PEF challenge.

Ms Sturgeon told the Reporter: “The number one priority of this government is to raise school attainment, particularly in less advantaged areas.

“To help achieve this we have committed £120 million to our Pupil Equity Fund this year. This additional money is available to head teachers to address some of the specific issues that might be affecting attainment in their schools.

“The work I have seen at Levenvale Primary is a perfect example of this. By looking carefully at their own unique circumstances, they have created their own solutions – in particular by recruiting specialist staffing and providing extra support to parents.

"It is going to be a regular source of funding. We've made it clear that we want funding to support schools and education generally being determined at the level of individual schools, so the PEF fund is the first step in doing that. This is the second year, and we intend that it will continued over the medium to long term.

"I've been hugely impressed by Levenvale. It is clearly a vibrant, happy school with some excellent examples of really innovative work. There have been wonderful young people who have been showing me around.

"The £120 million is additional funding to the money which supports education and it is a really important step. It is money which is allowing head teachers to make a difference and that's what I think is important about it."

Allocations are based on the number of pupils from P1 to S3 who are known to be eligible and registered for free school meals.

Levendale PS Head Teacher, Simon Simpson added: "Ultimately it has been the decision of the school and the school management as to where the funding would be allocated. The residential courses had an employability aspect and all the parents who went on that underwent food hygiene training.

"The 20 families who benefitted from the residential courses have had very positive outcomes and relationships have improved. More than 50 per cent of our funding went into literacy and science and this has really enriched the experience for those children."

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