To be offended by the insinuations nursery were making.

[OliviaJ]

Basically my ds age 4 attends a nursery attached to a school although come September he'll e starting reception at a completely different school. Yesterday my ds's one to one practically throws a form in my hand telling me i must fill it in and return it ASAP. I asked her what it was regarding (didn't have the chance to look as ds was throwing a huge tantrum) and she said oh it's just to do with some funding the school can claim for some children.

So I get home and have a look at it and it's regarding this supsedly new early years premium that the government are allowing schools to claim. It asked for the usual, ie name address, but then went on to ask for mine and dh's national insurance number and then if our income was below £16000 and if so, did we claim JSA/IS/ESA etc etc.

Well to be fair I was a bit taken a back as to how intrusive it was and why Infact school wanted to kneel this information especially since in a few short weeks my ds will no longer be there. The form then goes on to mention that it is a proven that chidlren who are eligible for free school meals tend to be significantly behind educationally and my claiming this finding the school intends to close the gap between more affluent children.

Well for starters my children do not get free school meals, not have they ever done and me and dh do not get those types of benefits. I mean we get CB and CTC of £107 per month but that's about it. At first I was fuming actually that nursey dared to assume that we were firstly eligible for these benefits when they know us as a family (eldest two chidlren attended the school previously) and they know that dh works and secondly I'm annoyed at the insinuation that even if we did lain these benefits that my son would automatically be behind academically when in our family at least that would not happen as me and dh are very hands on with all of our children's educations. So today I asked the TA why she had given me this form when me and my dh don't claim benefits and our kfks are my on FSM and she became all awkward and just kind of shrugged it off! So AIBU to be a bit annoyed?

[AnyRailway]

OliviaJ, are you calling me a "layabout who expects down thing for nothing "? (sic)

My son has additional needs too, but even if he didn't you wouldn't have the right to judge me. Very few people claim benefits as a lifestyle choice. Seems to me that you have been foolish enough to swallow what you read on the tabloids and watch on commercial tv.

[AnyRailway]

(can't believe I'm engaging with this...)

[OliviaJ]

AtomicDog thank you for explaining this to me, that's more than anyone else has done. I just wanted to know why I had to fill in this form and why especially considering my son won't be there in September. Now that you've told me this though i will definitely not be filling in the form, why should I allow the school to get funding for my child when he leaves in September when my child's new school will then miss out when they'll actually have my son there. Now I know why the Ta was so eager for me to fill it in, well she will be getting a blank form back tomorrow.

[WalterMittyish]

Your attitude is vile, OP.

[OliviaJ]

No it isn't, not at all.

[hedgehogsdontbite]

I wonder how OliviaJ will feel when her son's an adult, possibly not working because of his disability, and she hears people describing him as a 'layabout who expects something for nothing'.

[AnyRailway]

How ungrateful of you, when they have done so much to include your son despite not having the funding in place.

The new school won't get the money unless you fill in a form for them. So you are just being spiteful, and denying your son's existing school funding that they could use to help other children.

[WalterMittyish]

I can't believe I'm engaging with it either, AnyRailway

[WalterMittyish]

Your attitude's not vile? Point me in the direction of one reasonable comment from you, Ms Baity

[Feminine]

Is this the first time you've posted op
It just has to be!

[TheoriginalLEM]

Anyrailway: well she isnt though because as she has taken great pains to tell us she isn't entitled to it but now she'd rather it go to her ds's primary school.

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

Just a communication issue. The nursery like schools are being asked to ensure all eligible people are being caught if they need FSM - as now that KS1 children all get free school meals anyway - people who would normally be eligible are not bothering to apply. This means eligible children miss out on the extra funding schools get for them. The cover letter is explaining this. At our school all pupils were given the form to take home and it was explained in the school newsletter.

It is no judgement on you - just an exercise in catching all eligible children early. They will have given the form to all their parents but this should have been broached in a better way. You are not eligible so you rightly binned the form. But to other parents this additional funding for their child's school would give much needed support.

[passmethewineplease]

Get a grip OP.

You sound awful.

[diddlediddledumpling]

I'm going to be the first to claim wind-up. nobody is this vile.

[OliviaJ]

£300 will not make one scrap of difference to my sons education. I've spent more personally buying him educational resources and Sensory toys to use at home, £300 will not go very far over the year.

[Mrsstarlord]

OliviaJ - your attitude is absolutely despicable. I can't see a single poster on here (out of 109 messages) who doesn't think your attitude stinks.

Surely that tells you something, or do you think that you are above everyone on here as well as everyone who claims benefits or has kids with SEN or kids who eat school dinners?

[TheoriginalLEM]

you are actually winding us up now aren't you. do keep it up im sat in the bath with a glass of and this thread is making me chortle

[Feminine]

Are you embarrassed?

You sound it.

[AnyRailway]

£300 is a lot of money. If the school was able to spend that on resources that could be shared between children, it could make an enormous amount of difference to quite a few children.

Do you honestly not realise that you are wrong about this?

[Purplepoodle]

It might not go far but it would buy a heck of a lot of paper and pencils ect. Things the schools need

[TandemFlux]

It a general form given to all parents! My school actually gave me the form three times because they were desperate. However it's an affluent area and the school has been disappointed with the low number of returns.

[TheoriginalLEM]

£300 is a lot of money. You clearly know nothing about school budgets. That is a set of books right there.

We offered the senco £1, 000 of PFA, she cried

[TheoriginalLEM]

pfa money - sorry typing in the bath

[FirstWeTakeManhattan]

All the carrot sticks and sensory sessions in the world will be of limited help if you are passing your questionable attitude on to your children.

I strongly suspect that the replies on this thread will do nothing to open your eyes to yourself, but one can hope.

[sarcasticfecker]

Its not just to benefit your son they could pool this extra money together and get something big with it that would benefit your son and the other children who are entitled

For example 10 or so children are entitled to this money and the nursery say pay for a new bit of equipment which would help your son and others that they may not of been able to before like a sensory room that cost thousands of pounds or employing a speech therapist to come in in addition to what you would get normally

It is free money that helps your child and its money that could of helped your child who has additional needs if you had pulled your finger out and done this sooner