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AT CHARTER Academy, a small, immaculately kept secondary school in Portsmouth, children who qualify for free school meals—63% of the school’s pupils—are also given a free uniform. Mums are invited in to chat about their children’s progress over a glass of wine; dads prefer watching their children on boxing nights, says Dame Sharon Hollows, the school’s headteacher. “A lot of the parents had a poor experience at school, it’s about making them feel more comfortable,” she adds. If a child is taken into care, someone from the school takes them shopping to make sure they have enough clothes. When a child doesn’t turn up to school, staff head out in a leased car to look for them. The turnaround has been fast: in 2009, the year the school became an academy, 23 children applied for 120 places; last year, 200 applied. During a 2014 visit to the school, the prime minister, David Cameron hailed the “extraordinary achievement”.

Some of these measures would have been introduced anyway, but many have been made possible by the huge boost to the school’s funding provided by the “pupil premium”, says Dame Sharon. The policy was introduced by the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition in 2011 to improve the academic performance of the poorest children. Schools receive additional funding for every child on free school meals (now £1,320—or $1,850—for primary schools, and £935 for secondary schools) and can spend the money how they see fit, with parents, governors and inspectors keeping tabs. In 2014-15, £2.5 billion was spent on the policy, 6% of the schools budget. Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister, called the premium one of his proudest legacies.