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Strange situation Pupil Premium Funding

53 replies

rackhampearl · 28/02/2019 23:35

Ok so this is gonna be a rather long post. My husband earns around 70k a year and I am a housewife. We live in West Yorkshire. We have two Children (7&3) 1 in Nursery and 1 in Year 2. When youngest started Nursery earlier on in 2018 about a month into her enrolment I was asked to sign a form because she had been granted some funding to help make nursery a better experience for her. They said that she had been the only child selected for this. I didn't know what this meant and just thought it was like a pot luck type system and they asked what I would like it to go towards. Still confused I said just do what you like with it, DD is 3, nursery is already fun for her. Didn't think anything of it and then at Christmas time a welfare officer phoned me and said that all the food collected at Harvest Festival was going to be turned into food hampers and donated back into the community and she would like DD (7) to have one. I was abit Hmm and said 'oh is it for families that struggle abit at Christmas because we have it all sorted' she said no not at all I just wanted to put DD name forward. This WO really likes DD so I just thought it could be that and didn't think much of it. When the Christmas Hamper arrived on 23rd we already had an abundance of Christmas stock so we advertised it on Facebook and it went back out to a family in the community. Forgot about it. Then in the last 2 month DD (7) has had letters home for her to join after school booster lessons in Maths and Reading. The Maths one i didn't think anything of because it doesn't seem to be her strongest subject but with the reading one I was like ??? She's 7 and she reads a whole lot of books, Jacqueline Wilson and Dahl, Rowling ect. She literally whizzes through books. So I thought surely this is a mistake, I'm always getting emails from the school about how good her reading is. So I took it to her teacher who couldn't really give me a straight answer when I asked if she was struggling. I said I'm concerned because it's looking to us like she's not performing at school like she is at home and would like to get to the root cause of it. She kind of palmed me off anyway and said she would talk to me at Parents Evening which was today. So i attended the meeting and a senior teacher saw me and said she understood that I had called in about the reading booster class (I didn't, I saw the teacher in the playground but just misunderstood) I said yes, I am confused and worried about DD performance at school if she needs all this extra help but obviously happy for her to attend I would just like to understand why her work is different at school. She went on to explain that she's not struggling at all! And that they get given a list of children who need extra attention and guidance and get funding allocated to them for these extra classes! They were often granted to children in underprivileged families. I was like ShockShock And then remembered the nursery thingwith DD (3) I said I was so baffled as to why my children were eligible for this as we don't even qualify for child tax credits, not in receipt of any benefits. She said she would look into this for me but I must have signed a form regarding PPF, I know this is impossible because I struggle to remember to fill in the most basic school forms (trips, school milk ect) I always end up calling the office and paying via phone/verbal consent. I'm really unorganised. I've been thinking about it all day. What does this mean? Has anyone else had this experience? How do I get my children's names off this system that believes they're eligible for this funding. We are happy to pay for what they need regarding education. And if I can contact whoever it is in the system will they be chasing us up for all the funding they've given for DDs? I'm so confused. Any advise would be so appreciated.

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Fairenuff · 01/03/2019 00:06

Are you or your dh in the armed forces?

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rackhampearl · 01/03/2019 00:08

No, DH works in IT and I don't work at all. Did abit of care work last year.

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Fairenuff · 01/03/2019 00:16

The school will be able to check it out for you. Maybe send a follow up email to confirm with them that they will check and let you know.

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Neolara · 01/03/2019 00:23

Pupil premium funding is available for kids whose parents have been in receipt of particular benefits at any point in the last six years. Would that explain why your dd is eligible?

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Neolara · 01/03/2019 00:30

Actually, I might have got that wrong. The guidance says "in the 2018 to 2019 financial year, schools will receive the following funding for each pupil registered as eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last 6 years". Maybe your child has to be in school at the same time as you receive the benefit that makes you eligible to receive fsm..

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plum100 · 01/03/2019 00:36

There could be lots of reasons you were entitled - forces chikdren/ adopted/ in care / hit a low earning . Basically the gov says children who are entitled to pp historically do less well at school and therefore they are given up to £1200 per year per child. They use this money how they see for but it’s generally used to ensure children are given a fair start.

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plum100 · 01/03/2019 00:40

The schools download a list which is complied using information from the school census. The school get there info for the census from you filling in the form . Where I live the school sends the form off the the free school meal dept at the council
And they decide if you are entitled to fSm - if u are you are automatically eligible for Pp funding.

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rackhampearl · 01/03/2019 00:41

I think I'm going to try get in contact with them tomorrow. We have never had social services or care involved/not armed forces/low income. No special learning requirements. It just confusing me. Hopefully can get some answers tomorrow.

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rackhampearl · 01/03/2019 00:42

When DD started infant school we got a letter to say all kids up to year 2 we're entitled to fsm. We didn't fill in a form though.

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plum100 · 01/03/2019 00:43

Let us know what they say - I’m intrigued!

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rackhampearl · 01/03/2019 00:43

I will. I'll update tomorrow. Thanks for the bits of info guys. Smile

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bsc · 01/03/2019 00:56

Does DD have a really common name (like Katie Jones or Aliyah Bibi) and they've got her mixed up with another child?
Obviously not the case if she's more a Magenta Finlay-Dyott.

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rackhampearl · 01/03/2019 00:58

No very uncommon both of my Dds

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redbirdblackbird · 01/03/2019 01:07

They are all entitled to FSM. The Ppg is calculated by the lea and the school given a list. Bizarre!

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BoringPerson · 01/03/2019 08:36

What an odd situation. Hope you get it sorted today.

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DaytimeIsCrazy · 01/03/2019 08:44

At our school they ask everyone to fill in and sign the pupil premium letter, then it gets checked by them.
All infants are entitled to free school meals, so lots of people don't register for pupil premium these days as don't see a big impact personally, although it's important to the school's budget!

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Myusernameismud · 01/03/2019 08:52

Bit of a personal question, but did you adopt your children?

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rackhampearl · 01/03/2019 09:14

No, not adopted. Never filled out a form, as I say it's very rare I fill anything out. I even missed the deadline for admissions this year and had to call up Confused

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Pigletin · 01/03/2019 09:36

Did it have to do with that form you signed initially for your younger daughter at the nursery? Could that be it?

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Doobydoobeedoo · 01/03/2019 09:51

Our school does the same as DaytimeIsCrazy's school. Everyone is asked to fill in the form and then the forms are checked to see who is eligible for Pupil Premium funding.

Even if you had filled in the form, it wouldn't have meant that you automatically got PP.

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bsc · 01/03/2019 18:52

Yes, you'd surely have had to take in proof of entitlement to support in order for school to claim? I think school have ticked it accidentally, no-one has realised, and now census has happened, DfE will class her as PP for six years!

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Myusernameismud · 01/03/2019 21:10

No you don't need proof of entitlement for FSM or PP claims, the LA has a centralised system that they use to check entitlement so it's nothing to do with the school. If there's been a mistake, it's the LA.

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AuntMarch · 01/03/2019 21:17

There is a section on the funding forms you fill out to give permission for your nursery to claim the general nursery education funding (15 hours universal for three year olds) which allows them to also check eligibility for EYPP (Early years pupil premium), but that would not automatically apply to the older child as it comes from a separate part of the LA budget I believe.

It does sound most likely to have been an admin error!
You can I think apply online to see if your child is eligible, I'd be tempted to do that and then share the result with school.

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AuntMarch · 01/03/2019 21:19

All children in reception and KS1 get free school meals. Our school asks parents to still apply as they would have done prior to that being brought in, because PP children also get help with paying for uniform, trips and interventions.
They DO have to apply (in my area anyway) by filling a form in.

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Holidayshopping · 01/03/2019 21:21

Did you go in and speak to the school today, OP?

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