DISADVANTAGED children in North Yorkshire will be given a better start in life after more funding was allocated for their education.

The county has been chosen as one of just seven areas in the country to be given a head start with the Government’s new Early Years Pupil Premium.

It means the county council will receive £100,567 to introduce the premium this month and the money will be distributed to local early years providers to deliver the funded entitlement for three and four-year-olds.

It amounts to up to £300 extra per year for each disadvantaged child who meets the eligibility criteria.

The county’s corporate director of children and young people’s services, Pete Dwyer, said that narrowing the attainment gap in early years was one of the authority’s key priorities.

“We are delighted about being one of the few areas selected nationally to be an early implementer.

“As part of the early implementer trial we are working with early years providers to look at how they can identify eligible children, explore ways to use the funding, and to measure its impact.”

The Department for Education will ask for feedback from the council before the full £50m EYPP is implemented throughout England in April.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said a Government priority was to build a society giving children from every background a fairer start in life.

He added: "This new funding from the early years pupil premium will allow schools and nurseries to give extra help to toddlers from the poorest families so they can develop and learn quickly and prevent them falling behind other children when they start school."

Childcare minister Sam Gyimah said: “Good quality early education should not be denied to anyone. Children who get it go on to do better at school and earn higher wages, so the Early Years Pupil Premium will be a life-changing injection of money.

“I would encourage any parent from North Yorkshire who meets the EYPP criteria to tell their child’s nursery or child minder they are eligible. The provider will then alert the local authority to access the funding.”

Children will qualify if they are three or four-year-old, are receiving Government-funded early education and their parents receive benefits used to access eligibility for free school meals.

*A survey published in 2014 found that disadvantaged three and four-year-olds are up to seven percentage points less likely to participate in early education.

In 2013, just 36 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals achieved a good level of development in the early years foundation stage compared with 55 per cent of other pupils.