Pupil premium funding never spent on my child.

[curlykaren]

My son has just gone into year 5 primary. Throughout his primary years he has attracted pupil premium funding to the school as my income as a single parent is low. I've found out that this year the school are holding mandarin language classes for children of mandarin/bilingual households. I am really good friends with one of the Mum's who has a son in these extra language classes. Her financial and family situation is vastly different to mine, her son doesn't attract pupil premium funding to the school. Over the years my son has had 6 Lego therapy sessions, one book and two trips (to free venues-museums). AIBU to be really fucking pissed off that my son doesn't benefit, in any meaningful way, from this funding when meanwhile the school are offering these extra language classes? If your child attracts the pupil premium funding to their school please share with me what the school offer to enhance their education? AIBU in asking the school how they are funding these classes?

PP funding is intended to help "disadvantaged" children perform better and narrow gaps with their peers. Assuming the school is not an academy, they have to publish -

• the school’s pupil premium grant allocation amount
• a summary of the main barriers to educational achievement faced by eligible pupils at the school
• how they will spend the pupil premium to overcome those barriers and the reasons for that approach
• how they will measure the effect of the pupil premium
• the date of the next review

• how they spent the pupil premium allocation last year

- the effect of the expenditure on eligible and other pupils of the school’s pupil premium strategy last year

Of course, this presupposes that all children who attract the PPF are in some way underachieving, which is clearly not the case.

The school don't have to publish (or tell you) exactly what is being spent on each qualifying child, and in many cases the funding will be pooled to have the best effect - so paying for an additional TA who can run intervention groups across several subjects, for example. so there isn't a pot of money with your childs name on that has to be spent to the penny on them and only them; the school uses its discretion to determine the most effective use of the money.

Are there areas where you feel your son would be in need of support?

Our school use it for extra English and maths for those pp making less progress than peers, individual instrument lessons for ppp, enabling pp children to access extra-curricular clubs and trips, buying ingredients/materials for practical subjects so pp aren't left out, social/nurture groups, etc etc.

I don't have any proof at all that pupil premium funding is being used
So you're annoyed that some children had an opportunity your child didn't and now that's not fair?

Right.

Pupil premium funding is there to help close educational attainment gaps. Schools have to account for how they use it and discuss the impact.

Cross posted with PatriciaHolm

Schools will use the money for best effect and will cover a whole range of things.

My DD too "receives" pupil premium that is never spent on her.
I agree, it is totally fucked up system.

As others have said, PP funding is now ringfenced and schools are held accountable regarding how they spend it. It isn’t a set amount to be spent on individual students even though each student attracts a specific amount into the school (around £900) It is pooled together by the school to aid the progress of disadvantaged students as a collective. For example, our school fund an extra English and Maths teacher from the budget so class sizes in the core subjects are smaller, a pastoral support assistant (with a specific remit for PP students) is part funded through the PP pot, revision guides and other important books are provided for PP students, school trips are frequently subsidised, Easter revision classes are paid for from it and we have also bought into online maths and English packages.

IMHO I can’t imagine that a primary school would fund a Mandarin course for specific pupils from the PP budget. Numeracy/literacy, maybe, but not something as niche as Mandarin.

I think you need to ask about your child my Ds previously was pupil premium.

He has had a Laptop, some 1-1 paid towards visitors a poet and science thing. Money towards trips , music tutition.

But lego how do you know for sure?

I love how many people can say for sure that x y z money never benefits their child and yet working in a school I see lots of things that are part funded from lots of grants and pots of money. It's just letters don't go home saying 'dear parent, we have spent £31.42 today on your child because we sent a member of staff on an intervention course which will feed into improving strategies for disadvantaged students (including yours!) in schools'. Nope. That money clearly didn't benefit anyone's child at all.
Much better to use PP money to have a special extra class for PP students with an outaide trainer. Ok it costs more and doesnt have lasting impact, but at least it means Mrs Smith will stop making assumptions and can rest happy because their child has missed geography/music/drama/art for 6 weeks.

Instead of trying to work out if your child is getting every penny of his share (there is no requirement for the school to do this and they are entitled to pool the money to spend on interventions that will help a majority of pp pupils as well as using it for individual support). I would think about what support you think your son needs that he isn’t getting. You say he has had Lego therapy in the past. Is he still struggling with social communication and are the school supporting him? Does he need extra support with English or Maths?

Are you sure the school is funding these mandarin classes. At our school, almost everything like that is paid for by the volunteer run parent council. Do you have a clear idea about who does and pays for what? Most parents at our school can't distinguish between the two and assume the school is paying for the events and classes.

I think Patricia's answer was pretty comprehensive.

Funding an extra TA to do interventions in English & Maths takes up quite a number of PPs.

The schools my DDs have been at have used PP and PPP money well - benefitting the PP kids, but also allowing others to 'piggy back' off the money at times.

Pupil Premium Grant is a payment to schools. It is part of schools' funding. It is not received by pupils, other than (as I previously stated) pupils in receipt of LAC premium, where it is specifically allocated to the pupil, to be spent on their individual progress needs.

There's definitely a misunderstanding on this thread that pp is spent on individual children. It's not, individual children attract the payments and then school have to use it to provide opportunities to give all students equal chance to succeed.

Once school I worked in used it for laptops and iPads, it gave the teachers more opportunity to encourage research and independent work, they also staffed extra English and maths sessions to bridge the gaps between the highest and lowest achieving students. The library also bought new books based on student requests, all students can access the books.

So although there is pp funding based on your child's circumstances the money can be spent in any way which benefits the progress of all students.

School manager here - it is a legal requirement for schools to publish how Pupil and Sports Premium is spent each academic year on the school website. That should be your first port of call. Depending on the size of your school, it may not be very specific as it could single out a child or small group of children. However, all the PP parents at our school are notified when money is being spent on their child - as a matter of courtesy. They have provided £1320 funding to our school, it is the least we can do is tell the parents how we have used that money to help their child. If it isn't published that is a big no-no and Ofsted will be down on them like a tonne of bricks.

PawsomePugFancier
Too many people (in my opinion) seem to make judgements and get annoyed at how they haven't had x y z that they believe they are entitled to / get annoyed that some other child might possibly have a different opportunity to theirs/ become experts in school budgets and funding based on their own opinion.

In response to your question, we have used PP funding to:

• provide Thrive interventions
• pay for a 1-2-1 literacy intervention teacher
• fund revision resources for PP pupils
• fund an after health and school sports group for specific students
• fund outward bound type activities for students who need support with behaviour/confidence.

We also prioritise PP students in less specific ways such as having first chance to go on theatre workshops (and funding in certain cases), and also by being mentored by a senior member of staff if a PPstudent in Y11.

Pupil Premium money (Except for LAC) is not ring fenced though - it is used to support the school not individual children

Scrumymum why isn’t SEN spending ringfenced? Do you provide similar breakdowns for that too?

If you wanted to compare, all schools post their Pupil Premium spending reports on their websites. I have to agree with above posters, it's not funding that is designated for individual PP children, it is a pot which gets bigger with every PP child in the school.

I've read information on our local primary schools website showing how PP is spent. However, I know one previously LAC child who attracts PP+ but there is no information about how the school allocates that funding, which I believe is around £2k oer child.

all my 3 had PP through their school years and the only thing they had spent on them was extra maths for 2 terms for one dc and a half price residental

so mine did benefit but not much, always paid full price for trips and swimming etc

but i dont thinkyou can expect it all to be spent on one child,i would rather some of my kids PP went somewhere else because my kids didnt need extra help

@MaisyPops @PawsomePugFancier
I couldn’t agree more!

This is not true. PP funding is ringfenced and is not like DLA funding.

Look at the website. It should essentially tell you what you want to know. But I have a question. Why does it matter in the grand scheme of things?

Gran22 schools don't manage PP+ Lac funding - The Virtual School to LAC do - they have report back to central Gov on spending and they manage the money

My sons primary school spend it on extra staff. My eldest 's secondary school subsidise school trips and music lessons with it.