ALL Leigh schools are to receive part of a £1.9 cash windfall to help improve standards.

Sums they are allocated will vary between £3,000 and £50,000.

The amount from the Schools Standards Grant, announced in the Chancellor's Budget speech, will depend on the size and type of school and will be available soon.

Chairman of education, Cllr Brian Wilson, said: "Our schools will be delighted to have this extra money to spend.

"It will feel like a very welcome windfall on top of their carefully managed budgets, and I am confident that each school will ensure that it is spent wisely on what it is intended for, improving standards across the board.

"I believe that this is a good way of getting extra funds quickly and efficiently to where they will do most good."

A primary school with 100 pupils or less will receive £3,000, rising by a further £3,000 for schools with more than 100 but less than 200, while a school will 201 pupils or more will be awarded £9,000.

Secondary schools with less than 600 pupils will get £30,000, those between 600 - 1,200 £40,000, and the biggest schools with 1,201 or more will have an extra £50,000 to spend. Each special school will receive £15,000 and pupil referral units £3,000.

Nursery schools will be treated as primary schools, but since neither these nor the pupil referral units do not have delegated budgets the Local Education Authority will be required to spend their extra grant money on them.

The money will not be available to the local authority until the process to take it throught Parliament has been completed, but the DfEE expect payments to start next month.