To dislike the fact my child is assumed to be failing

[sandsandthesea]

Because she’s on free school meals?

I live in a wholly selective area. We have a grammar school and a secondary modern school about a mile apart. The secondary modern has 38% which roughly reflects the catchment. The grammar 1.5%. So unless you think poor children are inherently less clever than rich ones.......

I wouldn’t turn down any free extra tuition, it all helps and if she is ahead and not behind just think about how much further she could progress.

Surelt it us good that she us getting a better quality if education? Presumably you have some kind of chip on your shoulder that is making you bitter like this.

Lots of parents pay for xtra tuition, I think it's ridiculous, kids are stressed enough, but that's what they do to get ahead

@sandsandthesea this is called 'pupil premium' funding. What it is, is that schools get money for children on FSM or who fall under the pupil premium bracket (e.g. Looked after, adopted etc). Nearly all schools reserve some of this money for tuition. This does NOT mean your daughter is failing, I promise you! It is just offered as an extra opportunity as the funding is there for it.

Recently, OFSTED have been particularly interested in how schools are using pupil premium funding to improve outcomes for high attaining kids who receive free school meals.

DropItLikeASquat
It can go into a big pot e.g. school PP funds rather than 'child X has £100' etc.

The other children benefiting might be something like these situations:

• 15 PP children are struggling on maths. Without using PP money school can't get a specialist tutor in but using PP money the school can fund a maths tutor for the afternoon and other children who need support can piggy back the group.
• there's an alternative vocational qualification which may benefit PP students who prefer a more hands on way of learning, but there is a minimum of 10 students before the outside agency will run the course so PP funds are used and 4 other students who are not PP but have a similar need will benefit

In both situations the impact on PP students can be monitored but others are also benefiting.

@Maisypops

During our recent OFSTED inspection, the inspectors wanted proof that EVERY PP child had their quota spent on them and them alone.

So rock, say a child's quota covers small group tuition with a maths tutor (who charges for a full afternoon regardless of numbers of children seen) are ofsted seriously saying that a school should actively not use the full afternoon's tuition paid for? So actively depriving other children of an opportunity which has already been paid for? Or would they say that thr PP child should miss a whole afternoon of other subjects tp use up thr time, regardless of the impact on other subjects?
(Not a criticism of you by the way, just seems very illogical)

We track how and where our PP money goes and track impact but it would seem silly to start denying other children access to opportunities already covered purely to tick a box. Lots of things are half day bookings/min cohort so schools would either have to:
A) pay up the full amount but actively not enable any time to any children who could piggy back (so denying opportunities for zero reason)
B) Decide not to offer what might be a great intervention because why throw money at a service you can only use 1/3 of the capacity of

Rock the Ofsted inspector needs challenging. The guidelines for spending PPA money are very clear - schools are able to spend the money in whatever way they like. What is very clear is that they have to demonstrate accountability - that the child in receipt of PP is making progress.

Anyway, unless the OP's child is already Greater Depth/Exceeding/110 + or whatever measure is going to be used this year, we can't say there is no gap. There is nationally a gap between the numbers of children in receipt of PPG achieving at both the expected and the higher levels. If the OP's daughter is currently performing at the higher levels, the school might well want to make sure she gets those results in the tests. Or she might be just hovering under the higher levels so the booster classes could help get her there.

Exactly ontop.
Pp students tend to be underrepresented in the higher grades too. The best way my colleague explained it is 'results are generally better in affluent areas vs deprived areas. Do we seriously believe poor children are inherently less intelligent?'

DS got extra help due to being on Pupil Premium, even though he was also on the Gifted and Talented program. It wasn't wasted though, how can you say extra support on any subject would be wasted? Unless they are literally refusing to teach beyond a certain level, in which case yes, that's daft.

It is compulsory for schools to use the extra funding in this way. I am actually very glad this is the case, otherwise most schools would just stick the money in the pot with everything else and no use it as it was intended.

Without saying too much it was complicated as the previous inspection had highlighted spending of the premium that wasn't ideal. So was massively under a spotlight.

Ah right.
Reading between the lines, instead of having a school PP pot which goes to PP children and some piggy backers may benefit from some provision, PP funds were allocated to other things in school and then tenuous justifications were made?

You child has to be seen to be benefiting from the PP funding in some way even if they are academically bright, this can be extracurricular though.

Damson, I'm surprised you don't know about PP funding, it forms a large part of many school budgets.

And to be fair blonde the child probably would benefit, but seems to have a parent who thinks an hour socialising with friends is the biggest priority.

As a teacher I have to be aware of the progress children in receipt of PP are making at all times. Their books are scrutinised and extra intervention is expected. Just like students with SEN, they have to be highlighted on my seating plans for any observers popping in.

I obviously also offer extra intervention to other students who are not making sufficient progress and I don't worry too much about PP students who are on target. I also don't tell the students that they are in the PP category and I don't think other staff do. It's a strange one as we all know many students who get FSM who aren't not below target etc but I work in a very deprived area so actually many of our students do worse than predicted from ks2 data.

Pupil premium is so that FSM children reach their full potential. It does not imply she is failing. The school just want her to do as well as she can. I am not sure what the problem is? Surely you want the same thing?

Our recent OFSTED; they looked extremely closely at the progress made by all the PP children in the school. They took all of their books and data and went through it all with a fine tooth comb for a whole afternoon.

But surely it’s the assumption here that is the issue? Just because you are in receipt of free school meals, that does not mean you are inevitably going to fail.

...fine toothed comb...

Then say no to the school or gain work and come off FSM Dammit, why didn't the OP think of that? Lazy scounger they must be...

That's so weird. Only children falling behind their peers should be eligible for extra tuition.

“That's so weird. Only children falling behind their peers should be eligible for extra tuition.”

No- children falling behind what they are capable of, not behind their peers. Which very many children on FSM do. Through no fault of their parents.

That's so weird. Only children falling behind their peers should be eligible for extra tuition

How would you define that? Schools don't rank the kids 1 to 30 like the olden days and different schools have widely different cohorts. My child was in bottom groups but passed y6 SATS. In another school he might be in the middle group.

While children's test results are measured nationally, progress is quite rightly measured at the individual child level. In an ideal world, children who are coasting or not progressing would be picked up and targeted.