Anyone getting Pupil Premium for their kids? How does their school administer it?

ZOMBIE THREAD

my sons primary school receives pupil premium for both my sons and they issue a breakdown every year of how the funds have been spent - there are approx. 12 pupils eligible for it. they've improved tech at the school and sports facilities and they pay for several support teachers, one of which my eldest son benefits from, but I am interested to know how I can get help specifically for my sons! my eldest son had to stop his piano lessons at school as I couldn't afford to keep up the payments- he was really upset by this! the lessons are provided by an external company, as are the sports lessons and academic clubs, so the school offered to ask them if I could get half price lessons but id have to pay my half up front (I cant afford this twice over!) I have heard of people getting uniform vouchers, extra-curricular activities and after school clubs funded and exemption from school trip costs, even tablets for homework help! is this help standard across the country or is it dependent on your school? I know many government schemes are not advertised but can offer assistance so long as you know who to ask and what for!

You presume every service person is rolling in it. My partner came back from Afghan suffering from PTSD, alcohol abuse followed and the break down of the family followed that. My children receive counselling funded by PP. Because I receive working tax credits I am not entitled to free meals or any other benefits despite only having a house hold income of less than £10,000. You presume all circumstances are the same, well they are not.

Lt Eve is correct. Rules apply equally tri-Service. I'm RAF.

Exactly, Rufus! Schools near barracks are likely to have a number of children who are unsettled by constant moving about. Some of them will have problems with settling into a new school and making friends, which sometimes leads to behaviour issues. A nurture room would be a way of providing them with a bit of extra support. It's not about handing out £300 of freebies to forces children.

Talkinpeace. I used to be told to "FUCK OFF" or "IM COMING BACK WITH A SHOOTER" 4 times a night so being told to fuck off on mumsnet is not going to worry me. HA HA HA.

Its probably used on other more child intensive things but the nurture room is the one I know about

Pp in our local infant school (high forces area) is used o provide a nurture room for any child that needs it

That includes forces children, Any child receiving FSM and would have included my son who is neither forces or on FSM

The Services Premium and Pupil Premium are different amounts, though, TiP...Services Child attracts £300 and Pupil Premium (Ever6 children) is £900. Quite a difference.

By the way, could somebody explain calopene's definition of "entitled"? Is it some kind of insult?

Now I'm confused!! Have you changed your username Alaska?

I was in communication with my ds's school for a number of weeks over the PP. At the time, it didn't have a policy published online and it has a 50% gap between the achievement (A*-C) of the average and those on PP. I delved into the financial records and discovered that the money was disappearing into a big pot, along with money to replace EMA for Sixth Formers. The school started to panic when Wilshaw threatened to remove the "Outstanding" rating from schools with a big achievement gap.

I still feel slightly ambivalent about PP and I think there's a lot of misunderstanding. The school is awarded the money on the basis of the number of eligible pupils, but it does not have to spend the money on those individual pupils. As somebody mentioned previously, the tracking is all-important. I believe the question should be whether an individual pupil's achievement is being affected by lack of money (the services children are slightly different). If, for example, pupils are expected to work on computers at home and a significant number of pupils don't have computers at home (or even a quiet place to do homework), the school could legitimately pay for somebody to run a homework club. The club wouldn't be restricted to those on PP, but most pupils, given the choice, would probably prefer to do their homework at home.

Ofsted and others have published loads of advice on the use of the PP, including one document (which I can't find at the moment) about the impact and cost effectiveness of various interventions. If I can find the link, I'll post it. I remember that one-to-one tuition was considered to be very effective, but also very expensive.

I must admit that I find it ironic that a government, which supposedly dislikes the "Big Brother" attitude of Labour, takes away money from parents' benefits and gives it to schools to decide how it's spent.

Talkin - CEA (Formally BSA) is a Joint Allowance. The rules have always been the same for all.

Pay scales are rated on NATO ranks, not Army/Navy/RAF. So again, the rules are the same for all.

Trade rates can differ, but they differ in single service trades as well.

Most of what you have said tonight is bollocks, and 'provable' bollocks at that, why are you doing this?

I admit I got confused earlier when you were talking about your brother/some bloke you knew/some RN bod you hate whoever it is that you seem to know such an inordinate amount about (have you ever thought about MI6, your skills would be put to good use there?) but everything else is just bizarre and makes you sound, umm, angry? Are you quite OK?

i started the thread to see how other schools actually do the day to day management of it!
no great subterfuge!

you see I have heard it IS for each kid - not a group. That is what caused the major panic after a local school was challenged on it

( can see thread has moved on somewhat!)

Op started the thread with the assumption that they would have control over its use

many (most) of us had assumed that the the PP was limited to those without financial resources - ie eligible for FSM

the fact that forces families get it even if they earn a lot more seems incredibly unfair

buy hey!
this government were never big on fair so none of us are to blame
except for those who voted for them (whoops the eejits on the other side were not much of an option)

I guess it comes down to
do the best you can and cross your fingers

Hmmmm!

I'm not sure why the OP started this thread, but it could have been quite interesting.

Money should never be a bar to a child achieving its personal best, which is why the pupil premium was introduced. It is supposed to target more precisely deprived children rather than the previous methods of block grants. I must admit I have reservations about how it's operating, but the thread seems to have degenerated into a slanging match about the armed sevices. Shame!

LtEve
You are army. I am talking about navy. The rules have never been applied the same. Sad, unfair, but true.
Soul
Grow Rhino skin - it makes life more amusing

I am droping off the other thread i have been told to FUCK OFF/SHOULD BE SENT ON A TOUR OF DUTY. Just for asking if armed forces officers could possibly look in to state boarding or other state schools.
The people on here really are in a very small band of people and in their own self intrest.

Talkinpeace. For someone to be 'bumped up' enough for their pension to equal their final salary they would have to jump about 5 ranks! Impossible and complete bollocks. For example, a Lt Col at the highest level of pay will get around £78k a year. His MAXimum pension would be £37K. What you are saying is Absolutely impossible.

I don't believe that anyone, ever got £4600 per term CEA.

One of the rules for eligibility of CEA is that the spouse goes with the serviceperson, unless that one particular post is unaccompanied only (ie OP tour). The 'perk' is so that your children aren't disadvantaged as well as the spouse.

Oh, yes, I meant to add that about all ranks of personnel.

There are plenty of dc whose Dads (they are all Dads) are the same rank as this friend and who are day pupils at school. Obviously they're playing fair!

Hmm I think all ranks are pleased that they have tightened up on the regulations. Otherwise those of us who are following the rules to the nth degree get tarred with the same brush! Above all though it is fraud and IMO they should be prosecuted.
In your example it is true that certain jobs can only be done in certain areas so it does make posting predictions easier and thus an ability to play the system. However, if the Mother hadn't moved with her husband then the family would not be deemed mobile and therefore not entitled to CEA. London used to be an exception to this, but is not now and there are a few other places which don't allow accompanied service but they are few and far between.

OK, sure, I get the 90% bit. Just seemed odd that they started boarding when Dad was local and he never got posted again at all (and also know of another family who did that but even longer ago again). Maybe the promotion was relevant (ie without it, he would have been posted to one of four other bases where those planes are flown only). Although Mum would definitely have remained (very 'big' job of her own in civvy street).

Anyway, I know all the lower ranked personnel locally have talked on many occasion about how they're happy it's been tightened up recently.

I'm not forces bashing at all. The Services Premium is very well spent in our local primaries who have a high turnover of pupils.

talkin Kings Gutesloh is a weekly boarding school I believe. Sending your DC here does not help with the continuity of education principle as you would have to move them after a posting.

calopene, I haven't been unemployed for six years! I worked for almost 30 years full-time (apart from two six month maternity breaks). I'm a teacher, but had a breakdown four years ago, and have been unable to resume my career. It's been a hard slog getting myself into any kind of mental shape where I can work. I was claiming JSA for two years (and therefore my ds was eligible for free school meals), because the DWP kept messing up my payments when I did casual work such as supply teaching or marking exams. I have been doing private tutoring, but the JSA rules meant I could only have one student at a time. I have received no child maintenance, because my former dh is a sh*t. As it so happens I started a 16 hour per week job on 2nd September and have also registered as self-employed and picked up 9 hours of private tuition in the last two weeks alone. What were you saying about finding more work?

My ds's school still receives £900pa for him. My ds is still an "Ever6" pupil, Although he no longer receives the "perks" in the school's policy, as he is no longer eligible for free school meals, as I receive WTC. I actually think it's daft. My ds achieved three As a year early in his GCSEs and there is no way he won't achieve another two A-Cs next year. As there are only 22 pupils in his year group eligible for PP, he will account for an almost 5% improvement in the school's "closing the gap" statistics and the school will hardly have spent any of the money on him! I did buy him a new blazer, some trousers and two shirts before my eligibility ran out ;-)

Hmm 90% of their school fees could have been paid for continuity of education allowance if the fees were low. The rule is that the parents must pay at least 10% of the fees and the government will contribute the rest up to the ceiling for the allowance. There are different allowance ceilings for prep and senior schools.
The problem is that no one is a mind reader and you usually don't know where you next posting would be so as not to disadvantage the DC they are allowed to start boarding from 8 at the earliest. Sp your friend might have been posted abroad.... These rules have been changed and tightened up recently and my DCs are not part of this system now so maybe Lt Eve has the up to date regulations.