Several of the district’s secondary schools have been awarded a coveted £5,000 each in recognition of their work for disadvantaged pupils.

Loreto College, St Albans Girls’ School and St George’s School in Harpenden received the prestigious prize from the Department for Education as part of the 2015 Pupil Premium Awards, following Key Stage 4 results published recently.

They will now be able to apply for prizes worth up to £250,000 which will be awarded at a ceremony hosted by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in March.

Only 16 schools in the east of England have qualified.

Headteacher of Loreto College, Maire Lynch, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to receive the award in recognition of our value added progress to our disadvantaged pupils.

“It is lovely; obviously we will be able to use the prize to further fund what we do already do for our disadvantaged pupils. They have a lot of one-to-one support and we have a highly-skilled team who make sure they have strong foundations.”

Schools across the country receive a total of £2.5 billion of extra funding as part of a pupil premium.

Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Sandy Walkington said: “This is great recognition of the quality of schools in St Albans. Full marks to the heads and teaching staff.

“Even in relatively affluent St Albans there are pockets of deprivation and the pupil premium is all about everyone having a chance in life.”

Loreto College, in Upper Lattimore Road, was also recently named as one of the country’s top performing non-selective state schools, due to its impressive percentage of pupils achieving five or more A*-C grades at GCSEs, or equivalent, including English and Maths.