FUNDING of £613,525 for primary and secondary schools across the borough has been welcomed by St Helens Council.

The money will be paid directly to schools for refurbishing and improving their buildings and the allocation for St Helens is part of a national share of £167 million.

A top-up of capital funding, made available by the Department of Education and Employment earlier this year, plus the additional funding means that an average St Helens secondary school will now receive £36,000, while an average primary school will receive more than £12,000. The funding is calculated by a formula based on pupil numbers.

Councillor Andy Bowden, Cabinet Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, said: "We very much welcome this additional money for schools across St Helens which will bring improvements, so benefiting pupils. Each school will decide how best to use the money on refurbishing and improving its building in line with the school's Asset Management Plan."

The money was provided by the Devolved Capital programme, which was introduced in April this year to provide money for repairing and improving school buildings.