And he accused them of being “totally out of touch with the needs of Renfrewshire” after it was announced just five schools in the area would be earmarked for a boost in funding.

Mark Macmillan made the comments after the second allocation of a cash pot to close the attainment gap was announced last Tuesday.

“The Scottish Government’s announcement is totally out of touch with the needs of Renfrewshire,” he said. “Put simply — it doesn’t go far enough to help us in our efforts to close the attainment gap between children from high and low income households.

“While I welcome the fact that the Scottish Government listened to the strong case we put forward that Renfrewshire children absolutely deserved to be included in tranche two of this fund — allocating money to just five of our schools is not enough. Poverty doesn’t recognise boundaries and there are pupils in schools across Renfrewshire that live in deprivation.” The five Renfrewshire primary schools set to be included in tranche two have over 70 per cent of pupils in Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) deciles 1 and 2: Glencoats Primary in Ferguslie, 91.8 per cent; Gallowhill Primary in Gallowhill, 87.1 per cent; St Fergus Primary in Ferguslie, 83.3 per cent; St Catherine’s Primary in Gallowhill, 70.9 per cent - all Paisley. And St David’s in Johnstone, 79.7 per cent.

The other two primary schools the council hoped to be included in the fund are Cochrane Castle Primary in Johnstone and St Paul’s Primary in Paisley. They have not been included.

Cllr Macmillan has raised concerns over the fact that one in five Renfrewshire children live in poverty.

He continued: “The independent Renfrewshire Tackling Poverty Commission recommended earlier this year that more should be done to align national education resources with deprivation levels. But after being missed from tranche one earlier this year, it’s clear that the Attainment Scotland Fund does not go far enough for Renfrewshire’s children.” After tranche one was announced the council wrote to the Scottish Government to call for more money to close the attainment gap.

Councillor Jacqueline Henry, Renfrewshire Council’s Education and Children convener added: “While Renfrewshire Council is widely recognised as leading the way in our approach to fight poverty at a local level - the fight isn’t one we can win alone. We’ve stepped up our investment and recently pledged £3.3m in extra resources to improve early years and close the attainment gap.

“I want all of Renfrewshire’s children to have the same opportunities – regardless of what their parents earn. It’s disappointing that despite us telling the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning about the pockets of severe deprivation that Renfrewshire children live in, the Scottish Government is not willing to fully recognise the needs of Renfrewshire children and give the support they deserve.

“We’ll continue with the bold efforts we are implementing in Renfrewshire to step up investment in every stage of school, as we work to make sure tackling poverty is central to everything we do.” When the council wrote to the Scottish Government earlier it provided details of seven primary schools that have more than 63 per cent of pupils living in deprivation. Five of these will receive funding.

Renfrewshire was the first Scottish council to announce it is setting up a fund to help parents living in hardship meet the cost of the school day.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The basis for children and young people’s success at school is primary education. It’s the foundation of a child’s learning and it’s why this Government is looking to increase standards in all schools — and to do so more quickly in the areas where it’s most needed. These schools are among 57 across 14 local authorities sharing in a further allocation of funding from the £100 million being invested over four years through the Scottish Attainment Fund.

“Schools have been selected because they support a significant proportion of pupils and families from communities which are facing some of the greatest challenges across Scotland. Many of these schools are already doing well for all of their pupils but there is more to do. The funding will be used to complement everyday school activity, focusing on literacy, numeracy, health and well-being. Where we find activity that works, it will be shared with other schools to raise standards more quickly and help change the future for all our young people.

“In addition to local Challenge funding announced to date, Education Scotland is putting in place an attainment advisor for every local authority, while we have also supported learning projects in Renfrewshire through the Access to Education fund, made extra funding available to councils to maintain teacher numbers across each authority this year and have just launched the Read Write Count campaign to further develop the literacy and numeracy skills of early primary school pupils.”