On Thursday 13 March I asked the Schools Minister how the pupil premium (the extra money for disadvantaged pupils) will work when the new scheme for free school meals comes in.

This issue has been raised with me by Cas Evans, the headteacher at Parks Primary. At the moment, the pupil premium is given to schools based on the number of parents who apply for free school meals. But from September, all pupils in reception, year 1 and year 2 will get free school meals, so parents won’t have to apply. This means it is really unclear how the Government will then allocate the pupil premium money.

The Minister didn’t give a clear answer, and said the Government was looking at whether the pupil premium can somehow be ‘automatically’ distributed. I will be keeping a close eye on this issue to make sure that our schools don’t miss out. You can read my question to the Minister and his answer here.