Over 4,000 secondary pupils eligible for the Pupil Premium in the borough

Students at secondary school

New research has revealed the amount of pupil premium funding allocated to secondary schools across England and the proportions of pupils within those schools eligible to receive the grant.

The number of pupils eligible in Rochdale is 4,845 which is 39.5% of pupils. This is higher than the average percentage of pupils eligible in the North West which is 31.1%.

The Pupil Premium is a grant given to schools in England, allocated to schools for each pupil who is eligible for free school meals and schools in Rochdale were allocated £4.5m in funding during the 2017 to 2018 school year.

A spokesperson for Rochdale Council said: “Secondary schools across the borough use pupil premium funding to accelerate the progress of pupils and help to enable them to achieve their potential.

“This may involve young people accessing additional support through tuition and/or intervention and will be targeted to improve pupils’ learning in areas where improvement is needed.

“Our schools support our vision to deliver the best possible educational opportunities for all young people and the pupil premium goes some way to supporting this.”