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?

@PhilODox @TeenTimesTwo

Thank you for the clarification re adopted children and PP+.

Firstly I think that's quite a simplistic way of looking at bilingualism. Yes, a child who successfully masters multiple languages will, as an adult, have more life opportunities. But in those early years, when one or both languages are not mastered, it can present a barrier to accessing other subjects, and they can be left behind in maths and science, for example.

Secondly, how can you be sure your child hasn't benefited from the money until you speak to the PP coordinator. There will be things you're either not aware of him accessing, like extra support staff in the classroom, or hadn't realised there was a hidden cost, like they might be using resources in class that aren't typically funded by local authority money.

Just ask. Honestly, they will have all this info available. They'll be reporting on it regularly to governors, as well as Ofsted.

Honestly a ludicrous complaint, all children should be entitled to access things at school how 'advantaged' you may think the parents are shouldn't be a bearing. Schools are majorly under funded and your child getting to play with Lego isn't school related, I'd be grateful for what you have been given...

Haven’t read the whole thread but even if they are using pupil premium to find the class - there could be a ouoilnwithin the class that receives pupil premium. There will be several pupils who receive it!!!

I think you need to know how your PP money is spent that helps your child- at our school we pay for uniform, Trips, after school clubs (as well as breakfast clubs), therapy for children who need it, magazines, Ipad Apps for their ipads if they have one.
At the beginning of the year I speak to the class teacher of the PP children and see what their targets are and what they need support on, then I have a meeting with their parents to see what can help them (9 times out of 10 it is financial help but can often be counselling, extra clubs etc...
When Ofsted come in they will want to know about the PP children and how the money is helping them- so you do need to know. xx

Secondly, how can you be sure your child hasn't benefited from the money until you speak to the PP coordinator. There will be things you're either not aware of him accessing, like extra support staff in the classroom, or hadn't realised there was a hidden cost, like they might be using resources in class that aren't typically funded by local authority money.
This.

And either way seeming agitated because some children get to access an additional opportunity and you think there might be a chance (based on pure speculation) some PP money was involved is totally unreasonable.

As many posters have said (repeatedly) it's not about every child getting an extra class, or a trip or some equipment that is "theirs".

Different schools will use their PP funds in different ways depending on the cohort. (E.g a school I used to work in had a ridiculously disadvantaged catchment so had a huge amount of PP funds which helped to provide full time welfare officers, non teaching safeguarding leader, additional pastoral capacity etc. Another school I worked at had a reasonably low PP level and so funds were allocated to other things with maybe a learning mentor on site who did a mix of intervention and social/emotional.)

OP, I think the reason people have been a bit is because your entire take is based on a sense of 'its not fair that other children get a languages opportunity' and pure speculation on how it is funded.

My children attract this funding for their school. As they are academically doing well they don’t benefit from any funding directly, but the whole school does, indirectly. Assuming your child will eat them, they could benefit from a £2.46 meal allowance daily which is not ‘nothing’ at all, and very lucky. What does frustrates me is that at secondary level since the school funds has been cut the support to low income families has also despite the PP still being funded. So there’s nothing in place that it was designed to help with (travel, music lessons etc all things which were perceived as being more readily available by wealthier families) all of these things have been removed. So essentially you are right, the money is going into a central pot and being used for staff etc far more because other funding no longer covers enough.
But it’s not the schools fault, it’s the government.

Wowsers16, definitely never had a meeting with anyone from the school to discuss any support or extension interventions. I had to kick up a huge fuss on the occasion we were provided with a book.
MaNeOi, I'll be sure to let the school know that some random on the internet thinks that lego therapy is bullshit, they can knock it on the head and save themselves some money.

Schools don't have to meet with you to discuss how they choose to design their curriculum and intervention.

There is a pot of money available to look at closing the educational attainment gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students. Schools decide how that money is spent and allocated to best meet the needs of their disadvantaged cohort.

LAC funding is ringfenced for individual children in care. PP isn't. It is not a case of 'child X has £300 and that is there for home to say 'I'd like £15 spending on this book or that trip'.

At our school, it's the less able children who are given far more of the resources available. You wouldn't be able to break it down I don't think, but these children are often working 121 or in small groups with the assistant teacher, whilst the teacher takes the other 90% of the class. So, that wouldn't be recorded as extra funding being spent directly iyswim. However, I have absolutely no idea whether these children getting far more attention are the pp children; but to me, it makes sense that it's the less able children who get the most help, regardless of whether they're pp or not.

Not all schools have meetings however our school does- and yes some go into a pot to help all.
However PP can be spent on the individual child that is eligible for it- for uniforms, trips, after school clubs etc... We even buy football boots/kits for children who need it so they can do a club (that we also fund).
We got magical maths in as an extra school club- open to all but PP did not have to pay as it was for them to benefit for extra maths.
It isn't just about less able at all. The member of staff who is in charge of PP should be able to pick out any PP child and say what is having an impact on that child to help them- they all should have targets for the year and teacher should be working closely to ensure they get support x

This school has 50% of children in receipt of PP. On this page click on the Pupil Premium Report 2018-2019 link at the end of the first section and they set out comprehensively where the money goes.
www.bursaracademy.co.uk/academy_administration/pupil_premium/pupil_premium.html

arethereanyleftatall
I think the main thing for people to realise is it's never as simple as 'PP money pays for X'.
Ultimately, you never make everyone happy if they're too busy focusing on how unfair their lot is.
For example I had some PP children predicted 6s for GCSE. As a school we could have said they are on target and we don't need to do anything, but actually we looked at very able PP students, regardless of target, nd did some interventions and workshops to give them a bit more TLC. Some of them exceeded their targets. That's a justifiable PP strategy.

Now someone could have sat on Mumsnet complaining that other students are getting all this extra fuss made over them. It's so unfair that bright and articulate children are being given so much help. The school is clearly just widening the gap by offerint these students an opportunity. Etc. Etc. But what they'd really be saying is 'its not fair some other child had access to a different opportunity to help them make progress'.

In my son's school the pupil premium money is spent entirely on wages for teaching assistants.

Teaching assistants do interventions in small groups for the weakest children.

If you child is reaching or exceeding standards for their age but qualifies for pupil premium, it does mean 'his' pp money is not spent on said child and of course vice versa, if a child is struggling but does not qualify for pp then that said child will get more percentage of money.

Pp money isn't ringfenced for Billy, bobby and Betty and not for sarah, George and Danny. It goes in a big pot with all the strands of income and then gets spent.

What is spent on, out of pp money will benefit non pp children.

My children receive pupil premium. We are allocated a virtual fund which can be spent on uniform, school trips, music lessons or an after school activity.

BanginChoons
That's one way schools can do things.

We don't give a virtual pot for parents to spend, but have a default subsidy or funding option for a range of things for PP students.

I think the main thing is that people realise that schools can (and will) do things differently to reflect their cohorts and needs. Just because one school does X and Y doesn't, doesn't make Y school wrong.

OP is there something in particular that you think your child needs to receive in order to narrow the attainment gap? If so, could you ask for it?

Although, the attainment gap is a statistic and your child may not fit the statistic and may be absolutely fine.

I’ve just looked on our school website and I’m confused as to what you expect it to be spent on?

Our school is in a deprived area and gets £160k this year. This is above the national average. The 8 page PDF details that it will be used for additional literacy and numeracy help with specifics for disabled children and the 12% of kids that have English as their second language. It is more than likely used to prop up the after school clubs as well which are free.

My children benefit from this as they are very behind in literacy so they have extra intervention. However they don’t attract it. I would expect any leftover funds would be spent on things like books for kids that attract the PP.

For interest due to this thread, I've just googled our school name plus pupil premium. We got £1320 total extra for the year 17/18 and it went towards the salary of a TA.

The school I work in for a lot of pp students it is spent specifically on that student. We have bought a student a laptop as he had no way of doing homework without it. It funds trips and activities so it doesn't affect the household budget etc........ I think this is what it should be used for. Not for general school use.

In our school, it goes into a pot to fund a TA and free breakfast club. If parent's request it, our Head will also pay for uniform and money towards trips. It is also used to fund additional resources such as extension activities for More Able PP students. Broadly speaking, the funding benefits the entire PP cohort rather than very specific things for specific pupils. If you asked about music tuition, residential school visits etc, I'm sure you'd get a discount because of your son's PP eligibility. I'm assuming he gets free school lunches as well?

So children who get pp can have extras but children that dont qualify get overseen. This isnt fair especially if its a nice trip out somewhere

divadee
It isn't for general school use. Schools can't just use it for the school in general.

It has to be for improving outcomes for disadvantaged students. That is different from saying each child has a pot to spend.

E.g. paying for an HLTA to do interventions at KS3 might benefit more students than just PP (e.g. lower achieving or EAL or send might also benefit). The HLTA may be a more affordable route of getting intervention than paying an external tutor to work 3 mornings a week only with PP. The PP students are still being targeted and are almost always at the top of lists for support, but others can benefit too. The benefit of having a permanent member of staff also means that for disadvantaged students there is another familiar face who'll probably support them from y7-11 with various things so there's a pastoral benefit too.
There's a difference between situations where other children may also benefit and general school spending. (Put it this way, if I go on a course because I've identified an area PP pupils need work on and I realise it might also help weak readers and EAL, I wouldn't refuse to use the better strategy with other students because the course I went on was part funded by PP money.)

Tictac this is extra funding given to who are considered the poorest to close the education gap.
It also applies to military personnel ‘s children who are disadvantaged by frequently moving schools.

I am yet to hear a rich parent complain that there child can afford something the poor can’t

If you child is reaching or exceeding standards for their age but qualifies for pupil premium, it does mean 'his' pp money is not spent on said child and of course vice versa, if a child is struggling but does not qualify for pp then that said child will get more percentage of money.

That's exactly what happened with my children. DS1 never got anything at all extra during the 4 years he was eligible for pupil premium, and DS2 hasn't had anything extra during the last two years since he started school. They are both 'exceeding' and they don't do many costly trips (think the most expensive was the Y6 residential but DS's grandfather paid for that before I could ask about getting help - generally there's one or two things a year costing less than £15 and most trips are a couple of pounds). So they've had no extra help, but they don't need it. I'm fine with 'their' money going into the pot for things like TAs and to help those who need it. If they weren't doing as well though, I'd be asking very pointed questions about how they were going to use the funds to assist my DC to catch up. I suppose my DC have missed out on wider cultural experiences that better off families can provide, which helps their general knowledge of history/geography/literature/music etc. But if it doesn't impact their English and Maths, I find primary schools aren't interested at all!