NEW figures show huge differences in the amount Huddersfield schools spend per pupil.

Ministers have released the information to give parents a better idea how their children’s high school is performing.

Fartown High spent the most, investing £9,219 per pupil in 2009/10.

The school spent more than twice as much as the lowest-spending school, King James’s in Almondbury, which invested just £4,391 per pupil last year.

The figures include all staff and running costs.

Other high-spending schools in Kirklees include Newsome High, Nether Hall Learning Campus in Rawthorpe and Birkdale High in Dewsbury.

Salendine Nook High, Colne Valley College and Honley High were among the lowest-spending schools per pupil.

But Howard Roberts, Kirklees secretary of the National Union of Teachers, pointed out that schools in poorer areas needed more money than those in richer neighbourhoods.

“Schools like Fartown have huge additional needs – that’s what explains the difference in these figures,” he said.

“Children are not coming to school having had an equal start in life.