NEW figures suggest ‘pupil premiums’ paid to schools which have pupils eligible for free school meals are improving exam results.

Statistics provided by Ofsted show that between 2012 and 2013 some areas in the North-East have seen significant increases in the proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals passing five A* to C grade GCSEs including English and maths.

One of the top performers was Hartlepool where the proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals who achieved five good GCSE passes jumped from 26 per cent to 35.3 per cent, an increase of 9.3 per cent.

Darlington also saw a big improvement in GCSE students passing five A* to C grade GCSEs including English and maths, with an increase from 34 per cent in 2012 to 41.8 per cent in 2013, an increase of 7.8 per cent.

Stockton also saw big improvements in the same target group, with the proportion of GCSE students hitting the five A* to C target grades jumping from 24.2 per cent to 30.9 per cent, an increase of 6.7 per cent.

County Durham saw only modest improvements, with the pass rate increasing from 36.7 per cent in 2012 to 38 in 2013, an increase of only 1.3 per cent.

Redcar and Cleveland increased from 29.3 per cent to 31.7 per cent during the same period (an increase of 2.4 per cent) while North Yorkshire saw the proportion of eligible pupils passing five good GCSEs increase from 33.9 per cent to 36.1 per cent, an increase of 2.2 per cent.

Some areas saw the performance dip steeply. Sunderland saw one of the biggest falls in free school meal-claiming pupils passing five good GCSEs. The proportion of youngsters in Sunderland attaining the target figure for GCSEs fell from 39.5 in 2012 to 32.6 per cent in 2013, a drop of 6.9 per cent.

The same group of students in Middlesbrough also saw a dip in the proportion passing five good GCSEs with the figure dipping from 35.4 per cent in 2012 to 32.8 per cent in 2013, a drop of 2.6 per cent.

The pupil premium was introduced by Education Secretary Michael Gove in April 2011. In the 2013-14 financial year schools received £953 for each eligible primary-aged pupil and £900 for each eligible secondary-aged pupil.