Warning over move to help deprived pupils

Plans of how the 2.5bn fund to support schools who teach deprived pupils will work are expected to be announced in today's Education White Paper along with reforms to the Ofsted inspection framework and the way young children are taught to read.

The Government is also expected to outline plans for a national funding formula to remove the huge variations that currently exist in the levels different education authorities receive per pupil.

One education campaigner from the region yesterday voiced hopes this would help "level the playing field" for schools in the worst funded authorities in Yorkshire. Tony Norton, a Brigg headteacher and national executive member of the f40 group representing councils who get the least funding per pupil, said he expected schools to be better off overall under the new system but he warned that education authorities with a small proportion of children who qualified for the pupil premium would miss out on the extra funding.

Mr Gove's education reforms will set out plans to streamline school inspections in an attempt to slash bureaucracy and red-tape. The White Paper will also include proposals to penalise students who use poor spelling or grammar in exams and call for an increased use of phonics teaching at primary school.

The chairman of the York based Campaign for a Real Education, Nick Seaton, hailed the changes as marking the start of a "counter- revolution" in education.