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

LtEve
Kings School at Gutesloh takes up to 18 : why could the Cols kids not go there? ( I know the real answer BTW )
AND
Many wives now do NOT follow their husbands around - they have their own careers and rented houses. Why should the taxpayer subsidise a lifestyle choice ?

The person in question (in the Navy) got £4600 per term per child for the five years of post prep school.
It may have changed, and the Army may be different
but the Navy certainly do systematically bump people up a rank on retirement so that their pension equals their previous final salary
the Army are better behaved I know

Hmm, he would have got whatever the maximum rate was back then, which I suppose could have been 90% depending on how expensive the school was.

I'm surprised he continued to get it if his final post was so close to the one before, but yes, things have tightened up seriously from before. There were far too many loopholes that made it worse for everyone. Claimants have to jump through a lot of hoops now, and more emphasis is placed on the HR Admin staff to check, check and recheck before claims are submitted.

He would have had to pay back the final years grant when he retired, unless the kids were in exam years.

It's a strange one, but hopefully he was bought to task and just didnt admit that to anyone.

The point about services children is that they place an extra financial burden on the schools which educate them in terms of admin and pastoral care. Whilst it isn't the case that all services children are living in poverty, many of them will have had disruption to their education and might need booster sessions to help them adjust to a new school or help them with a different syllabus. I know of one school which employs an admin assistant and study support assistant specifically for services children. Their salaries would be a legitimate use of PP money.

Oh, sure, that's perfectly understandable and acceptable.

What happened with an officer we know is they were here at a local base (SL); dc went to board at local private school in yr 5 (few miles up road). He takes a promotion to WC and a new posting up the road in a different base; dc remained in boarding school. End of this posting, he retires. The whole time just living up the road from school. Told everyone the whole time they got 90% of fees paid but wouldn't have got anything had the dc been day pupils.

Dc is now yr 11 so this is a few years ago. Were they lying? Or is this the kind of thing that would have happened and now can't?

God I've just seen another bit of bollock from TiP's angry post. Maximum CEA (Boarding School Allowance) is £6454, NOT £15K. FFS.

soul that is a fair question I know Officers that use state boarding schools. It is a choice we all have. A number of state boarding schools tend to have weekly boarding and the majority go home on Friday and don't return until Monday morning. Many families would not want their DC to be left in the minority at a weekend if they were posted a long way away or abroad. Plus there are not state boarding schools everywhere and many families choose a school for their DC near family or friends or the airport if posted overseas.

No hmmanoxfordcomma, I think I haven't explained myself well.

Col x and mrs Y and the kids live in Germany. There is no senior school provision for them as soon as they hit 11.
Kids get sent to boarding school in Shrewsbury (near GPs) whilst X finishes his posting. X and Y then get posted to Catterick for a 2 years
X gets a posting to Shrewsbury for 2 years, wife goes with him kids allowed to stay in School.
X gets a posting to Oxford for 2 years, wife goes with him, kids remain in school.

Does that make more sense? It would disrupt the children more to take them out of BS for 2 years, then go back in.

If Col X then decided to PVR at the end of the Shrewsbury posting then yes, he would have to pay his CEA back.

Hope that makes sense.

I'm an advisory teacher for LAC, and schools I work with use the PPG for:

-1:1 tuition (outside of school)
-Extra-curricular activities such as university summer schools
-Purchasing a laptop for the child (which is theirs, not school property!)
-Theatre trips for children with an interest or aptitude for drama
-Art materials

Plus many other things. Contrary to opinion, the PPG is not ringfenced for LAC; however, OFSTED want to see proof of how the money has been used to further that particular child's educational achievement, and it is good practice to show that the school is offering Looked After Children support above and beyond what they would be able to access as a non-LAC.

Traveller children are also eligible for pp

I was going to mention state boarding schools. There should be more of them and at better schools, certainly. There's one full secondary state one in our county and one school which only takes boarders at sixth form. It's at such a good school, I wonder why it's not from 11?

Why would they need to board for three years before the parent is posted, though, LtEve? And what happens if the parent decides to come out and not take a further posting? (Which happened in the case of two families I know - it was their last posting before a natural leaving point) Do they have to pay anything back?

I have been attacked on another thread for daring to ask why armed forces officers cant use state boarding schools for their dcs.

Ok talkin of course you are entitled to your views but please get your facts correct.
A number of officers have been made redundant and have taken voluntary redundancy in the last three years. We have had friends that have fallen into this category from Majors to Brigadiers. There have not been any Generals as they are usually very close to retirement age and therefore it is cheaper to let then retire normally.
Now as HMM says lets get back to the original post.

Talkinpeace. Woah. Did someone tread on your pet corn?

The subsidised rail card that we can buy gives us a third off rail travel - the same as a student travel card.

Retirement pensions are NEVER the same as final salary.

Officer ranks are not full. We are currently undermanned in the ranks of Capt, Lt Col and Col.

Not all redundancies are in the ranks. My unit alone has made redundant 7 Lt Cols, a Cdre, 2 Cols and a number of Capts

Oh and children can go to the 'local' boarding school for the duration of that posting. The service person and spouse then must both go on to the next posting, whilst the children remain in that school.

Any more?

DAPHNEDIL ......you sound very entitled ! In 6 years have you not been able to fully support your child with the basics like meals and uniform ? What do you plan to do about it ? Six years is a long time - have you thought about getting a better paid job /second job ?

And to go back to the OP, this is the bit that refers to how they are allowed to use the money:

Q. How will you ensure that schools spend the Premium effectively?
Schools are free to decide how to spend their Premium as they are best placed to
assess the needs of their pupils. But they will be held to account through:
? the performance tables;
? the new Ofsted inspection framework; and
? the new online reports to parents from this September
And next year we're recognising teachers and schools which do the most to boost
the attainment of their disadvantaged pupils through new awards and teacher
scholarships.

Talkinpeace. Woah. Did someone tread on your pet corn?

A British Army Private goes into basic training on less than 15k. He could be 28 years old with 4 kids and a wife that doesn't work. I would suggest that would bring him close to poverty.

Pupil Premium is paid to ALL those who have ever qualified for it - ie Ever6. It would cost more to look at every single case individually, therefore it is those children who receive FSM and military children.

The kids and SAHP didnt go to Libya (or rather to operational outposts in support of Libya), their military parent did. It doesn't matter where the child is.

Free train tickets are for duty travel and school children's visits only. You make it sound like I could pop up to London on the MODs ticket for a night on the piss. I can't and neither can any other serviceperson.

Most Military accommodation in London was packed up and sold off to the highest bidder eons ago. 'Subsidised housing' as you put it will be where the service person is having to live Mon-Fri because the Mess/Block is now owned by Annington Homes and rented out to civilians/councils.

If you reported and nothing happened to the seviceperson, then you were wrong and they were doing nothing wrong. Suck it up.

Stop talking bollocks.

"close" "relation" "did you mean to be so rude"
Good oh.
I've not spoken to the extremely 'close relation' for many years, thank goodness

And if you think your priviledges are acceptable - subsidised rail when on above average incomes while ATOS tell people that they will "recover within 6 months" from cerebral palsy
you need to get out more.

THE UK navy has more Admirals than ships
Most army units are understaffed with soldiers, but every officer rank is full
all the redundancies have been in the ranks, but it is the gold braid that is held in overinflated triplicate

ONLY in the top end of the MOD is the retirement pension the same as the final salary (poor civil servants have to settle for half, the rest of us for 1/4)

Sorry but the Forces killed the goose a while back : military covenant cuts both ways

Lots of cross-posts

More details here.

media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/p/2013-14%20pupil%20premium%20q%20and%20a.pdf

For PP, it only mentions 'maintained schools and academies in England' and 'disadvantaged pupils in non-mainstream settings who are publicly funded'.

This is what the DfE says about Service Premium: 'Both the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Department for Education remain committed to ensure a duty of care towards Service children in maintained education...' I can't see anywhere where it extends to private schools.

I agree wholeheartedly with you about the subsidies for boarding school for officers' children (some kids were boarding at ds's school despite living 2 miles away and their parents being at local bases!!!) although I think that wheeze has ended now and they do have to be posted away (with spouses accompanying them), don't they? But, still.

The anonymous fraud helpline is 0800 161 3665. I am not sure who you spoke to but when I have spoken to them they merely take the information and you are given no feedback whatsoever.

talkinpeace if you have a close relation in the Forces I would have thought you would have been better informed.

• as forces families we are entitled to forces rail cards which we pay I believe £20 for now.
• no families are not entitled to first clas rail travel as the norm.
• the gold braid as you so delightfully call them are maybe entitled to continuity of education allowance but they do not get a higher allowance than say a corporal or a warrant officer but they choose to top up the allowance to pay for Downe or Winchester.
• postings to London did merit flats but the ruling has changed now and this does affect mobility and therefore ability to be entitled to CEA.
• over privileged brats.... Thank you for your description of my DCs and other mumsnet DCs. No comment is really needed other than the normal mumsnet retort of.. ' did you mean to be so rude?'

going
I did report, but the response was that the posting was ending soon - not that the previous two years x 2 kids at £14500 a year was out of order : but then the person I spoke to, I've found out, had their kids in the scheme so had NO impetus to limit it.

The principle is right - the implementation is wrong

Just to correct a few points....

1. Boarding school allowance is not only for officers. Anyone who fulfills the mobility criteria in the armed forces is entitled to it. It is now known as continuity of education allowance as that is what it is for. And if you know someone who you believe is fraudulently claiming please report them.

1. No children of armed forces personnel to not get pupil premium at boarding school. The reason they are entitled to it is because they move so often and as a pp mentioned this can mean they miss vital bits of education. If they are at boarding school they do have constant changes which can affect their education.

1. Pupil premium is there to help children who are disadvantaged, not necessarily always economically and I believe it is part of the military covenant. Moving constantly and sometimes having parents on active service can mean that schools can help with counselling etc.