Pupil premium plus for adopted children

[AngelsWithSilverWings]

I was just wondering what other adopters think of this.

My DS's school phoned me a while back to let me know what they plan to do with this extra funding so that it benefits him. They basically said that they would make some extra curricular activities available to him if they felt it would help him improve in area that needed improving.

We had a discussion where I said that anything that helped to improve his creativity , either in writing or art or performing ( drama or music) would be wonderful. Help with handwriting would also be great.

Academically he does great so he doesn't need any additional help in these areas at the moment. He is also very sporty. He plays rugby and tennis , is about to get his brown belt in karate and has already passed his national curriculum award in swimming 3 years ahead of the expected age.

So I was a bit surprised to receive a letter yesterday telling me how excited they are at being able to offer my DS a special activity day ,free of charge, at a local sports club during half term. Apparently all children in receipt of free school meals have been offered this so as he now gets this people premium it has been extended to him too.

Unfortunately as there are hardly any kids at the school who qualify for free school meals none of his class mates will be at this event.

I feel bad turning the offer down but he will not go unless his friends are there. I'd feel equally bad accepting the offer though as we can afford to pay for this sort of thing ourselves if he wanted to do it. We often pay for a day at a football camp or an activity day at the local wildlife trust during the holidays.

I feel really ungrateful but at the same time a bit frustrated at the schools lack of imagination with regards to spending the extra cash.

What do you think? I know I'm probably being a grumpy old bag about it all!

[MrsM2509]

What is premium plus? I haven't heard of it before? Is it throughout uk?

[AngelsWithSilverWings]

Hi it's for looked after children and children who have been adopted (since 2005??) I know not every adopted child qualifies for it as there is a cut off.

[Lilka]

MrsM2509 Pupil Premium Plus can be claimed by publically funded schools in England, so if you're in England, be aware of it

The PPP is £1,900 per pupil per year who is either in care or previously in care (subject to certain restrictions) in extra funding for the school, and the money should be used by the school directly to support students who have previously been in care to help them achieve and meet their needs. Applies from reception to Y11. For instance the money could be used to provide staff training in attachment issues and how to deal with them in the classroom, or it could be used more individually on certain children to give them more support in a particular area, or any number of other things.

The restrictions are - adoption orders and SGO's must have been made on or after 30th December 2005, adopted from an English or Welsh local authority.

In order for the school to get the funding from April this year, parents/guardians had to have self declared to the school and the school recorded the child as eligible on the school census by 16th January last month

If you move schools in the year, you need to self declare to the new school by mid January next year

[Lilka]

Angels If your DS will not like it or be unhappy, then decline and explain to the school that he would struggle with something like that. This is to support your DS and if he wouldn't be supported by this then why take part?

However I would (personally) not feel at all guilty about letting them pay for it, if DS decided that he did want to give it a go. Admittedly I do have money issues and wouldn't be very able to afford activity days very often, but even if I did have more money, I don't see a reason to feel guilty. The money has to be spent somehow, the only question is whether what the school are proposing will support DS's needs.

[AngelsWithSilverWings]

Thanks for explaining it fully Lilka.

In my schools defence they have at least paid for some counselling for him. Although the head initially refused to provide it because she said that as his issues were not manifesting themselves at school it wasn't her problem.

She changed her mind when he vomited solid lumps of chocolate all over the classroom floor after "comfort eating" my entire stock of cooking chocolate before breakfast.

[fasparent]

It did state that if there was no benefit for the child, fund's could be use too buy in training /support , supply equipment, use for extra activity's too be used for the greater purpose too the whole school.
So more fool for schools not showing any interest.

[fasparent]

Is for children from care into adoption, Special Guardianship orders and also Residency Orders ( Children looked after by Grandparents , relative's or other person's ) the latter unfortunately was not highlighted enough but is included. All year one too eleven.

[fasparent]

Is for children from care into adoption, Special Guardianship orders and also Residency Orders ( Children looked after by Grandparents , relative's or other person's ) the latter unfortunately was not highlighted enough but is included. All year one too eleven.

[Lilka]

However the date restriction on residence orders is from 14th October 1991, whereas for AO's and SGO's it's the 30th December 2005. So all children who left care on RO's will qualify for the PPP whereas there are quite a lot of older adoptees right now who don't qualify because of the later date restrictions.

It's reception to Y11 rather than Y1 to Y11

[Shente]

WRT the sports thing, it may not be paid for by the school at all, sometimes charities offer these for free for targeted groups. You also get universities targeting pupil premium pupils with special academically related activities which are free to both the child and the school.

[AngelsWithSilverWings]

It specifically says it's paid for out of pupil premium in the letter.

[namechangesforthehardstuff]

Afaik it's not ring fenced for your child but they do need to show ofsted that they've spent it to benefit the pupil premium students.

I'd personally question whether they've thought about your ds's needs adequately given that all they've talked about is extra-curricular enrichment and you clearly don't have a need for that. I might write and 'encourage' them to think about anything they might more usefully spend his money on.

Sounds like they've just decided pupil premium is FSM in new money and it's not really - certainly not in your case...

[AngelsWithSilverWings]

Just a little update.

By coincidence we had our first whole family meeting with our post adoption SWs last night ( we had to call them in when the school head initially refused to help with the problems triggered by his transition to junior school)

They have a meeting with the school this morning and and are going to talk to them about how a sports activity day without anyone he knows being there is not a great way to support an adopted child.