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?

They'll have to send you the same trip letter as everyone else, and may well be using pp funds to cover your non-payment.

You're right that anyone can refuse to pay but if enough do, the trip won't run.

I'm surprised you are charged for a sporting club run by the school, they're usually free ime, unless run by an external provider!

What subject is your child not achieving in? I think you could definitely ask what support they plan to offer for that.

My daughters school gives all their pp students £50 for school supplies (WH Smith voucher), all class trips (day) are free and in conjunction with the pta, they can have £300 towards one residential trip over their time at the school (2-3 trips are run within that budget so it would be free). They also have drop in counsellors, free revision guides and classes in the Easter holidays (the later two we have to pay for). The money does go into a pot, some is used for intensive interventions eg escorts to school for the school adverse, but generally it seems to be directed at the kids

Sometimes the PP is used to fund an extra TA which is soooo helpful to have an extra pair of hands in the classroom.

Is your child at expected level for his subjects? If so, then the school have done the right thing and the PP is working

The only reason we are able to have a TA in each class is because of PP funding. They don't only support PP children.
Next year we loose approx 15 PP children as they go to secondary school. We'll only get a few coming into reception. There's been a definite shift in the people living in our catchment area due to new developments.
We're going to be loosing nearly 30k in PP funding. That's three TAs.

Our PP children also don't pay for trips and get £100 discount on residential. Occasionally we will provide other things but by need e.g paying for after school or breakfast clubs, taxis to get them to/from school, uniform. But it isn't something given to all PP children as a blanket policy. We have lots of chn who qualify under Ever 6 and now are not low income families. Many of our families take several term time foreign holidays a year so if we gave the same to everyone it would take the funding off those PP who need it.

Intervention in our school isn't related to being PP or not. It's based on need. If they're not making progress they get intervention. If they have potential to be greater depth but aren't, they'll get intervention. If they have behaviour/mental health needs, they'll get intervention.

Not if the child did well in KS1Sats Cookies and is capable of exceeding. Surely PP is there to close the gap across all abilities.

My school is in a deprived area so we get quite a lot of PP, we use it to fund/put towards

• speech and language therapy, play therapy, lego therapy
• support from an alternative curriculum programme
• support staff and training for support staff
• Breakfast and after school clubs
• Workshops and support around things like domestic violence, abuse, bereavement.
• Interventions and resources
• sports and extra-curricular activities
• a pot parents can apply to for uniform, trips, swimming etc.

How are they funding the mandarin lessons? and are they in class time? In my school it is expected that all staff will run/help run one after school/lunchtime club each, we have several languages offered because we have staff who speak those languages, its not diverting funding from anywhere past the odd bit of photocopying.

I’m a foster carer and our young lady attracts PP and as such we have a meeting every term to decide where the money would be best spent to help her.
Our council have just massively tightened up the rules re where the money goes but the school have been quite good. All pupils who have PP are eligible for either a 50% discount or free school trips. All these items are documented on their website as per Ofstead requirements.
I’d go into school and enquire (in as friendly way as you can muster 🤔).

At my school you would apply for your pupil premium and parents who don't qualify are asked for money to fund extra activities. Some of these go to all the pupils some of them don't. If you don't feel it is being spent fairly write to your governors and ask why

bubble
The child in your care will have LAC funding which is managed differently. LAC funding is a pot ringfenced for individual children.

It's separate from PP funding.

My children get £38 for school uniform and an after school club paid for. But we have to pay for the school trips.

How much is this money per pupil? find out if you don't already know and then ask the school to let you know how the funds are being spent to support the education of your child.
I don't have much faith in the school system for children with SEN as I had terrible experiences with my DD - the school were getting over £16,000 a year from the county for her, which I am certain didn't get spent on her. I found this out via a leaked email, She wasn't at school at all during the last year of it and you know what? she got a reward from the school for having 100% attendance. What the actual fuck. I know, so yh, they were telling the county that she was there, when she wasn't, I am sure they were still getting the money.
Do you know anyone else whose child gets this at the school? maybe you could start ask them what they think the money is being spent on? you could start a club...

I don’t think we get the funding in the same way in Scotland, but it saddens me that the same talented and and advantaged kids get picked for the extra lessons (music classes, sports teams etc) time and time again, at the same time the school talks passionately of closing the attainment gap. They already have a head start from receiving pay for coaching which then makes them stand out in the selection process

I worked on a project for a university which ran maths and literacy programmes for kids falling behind their peers. I was tasked with scouring primary school websites to see if I could see which schools used their PP to fund these courses. I was surprised to see 1. Some of the things some schools did spend the funding on 2. How many schools didn't have an up to date breakdown of what they spent it on and 3. How much the amount varies in different areas. I found that most schools seem to spend the PP on things that benefit the whole school - I'm guessing they are allowed to do that? I have also noticed that most schools encourage parents to tick boxes on forms if they are entitled to things like free school meals even if you don't use it as this therefore means more PP funding for the school.

OP have you looked into becoming a governor so you can have a say in how the money is spent?

MaisyPops, I agree the CLA funding is separate but the PP is still spent on our young lady. The school has to report a breakdown on what it has spent the PP on (for all children who receive it) .

Pupil premium for adopted children. It can be spent on whatever the school wants. Not ringfenced for the child.

toomanycuddlytoys
What I was meaning is that the meetings about spending money on the child were probably looking at taking money out of the LAC pot and thr child qualifies for PP rather than a 'your child is eligible for PP so come for a meeting'.
The LAC Status will make a difference regarding meeting and wider discussions about funding for that child rather than a broader PP Child.

Bubble12345
Yes they have to report on it, but the reports don't have to be on a pupil by pupil basis. They have to account for the outcomes of PP students and evidence how money is spent and the impact had on the cohort.

It would probably make you feel better to think of pp funding as a recognition that some children are more likely to need extra support at school. As the number of children in each school likely to need extra support will vary, the amount the school is given is calculated by the number of children who qualify for pp, pp+. This is so that schools with a higher than average number of pp, pp+ pupils have the resources they need (well more than schools with less pp/pp+ children at least).
Some children who qualify for pp/pp+ will, however be flying both academically and socially and schools are not required to fund things for them needlessly just so that they get ‘their share’. At the other end there will likely be children who will need interventions that cost more than they have individually attracted.
If your child needs support I’m a given area then you can ask the school for support. But you can’t demand they receive their exact portion of pp - it doesn’t work like that.

What I'm saying is that I don't understand the point of PP plus for our child when it doesn't have to be spent on our ds

I’m a bit confused about what exactly the OPs issue is, I suspect it’s a general issue with an unfair school but the Mandarin lessons are a bit of a red herring?

Anyway, I was wondering, having just applying for the pupil premium for my ds this week actually:

• do the class teachers get told which children are bringing in the PP?
• and the school secretary / admin?

Just wondering how they are able to check that DS isn’t in need of the help that PP can bring in?

And how I go about finding out if school trips can be discounted / free because of us not being able to afford the bloody things? And help with school uniform?

It’s really embarrassing to have to tell people unless they’re already supposed to know, but I’ll have to swallow my pride if it means helping DS not be disadvantaged. It’s a primary school in an extremely affluent area so money issues, or indeed any issues, don’t tend to get thought of as that’s not the culture of the school really. Bit of a bigger when you find yourself in this situation really.

Yes, the class teacher and in fact all staff will be aware of those children who are pp. It is for the best of reasons, so that those children can be prioritised where appropriate.

There will absolutely not be any stigma attached but you may want to talk to the school about how they use pp. It is a requirement for them to publish spending on their website so you will find some details there. There is no requirement to offer specifics to your child, the additional funding can be spent to benefit the whole school (though many do).

toomanycuddlytoys
I think plus funding should be treated like LAC funding in my opinion or plus funding should be a separate cohoet where if not ringfenced for individual children with their own pot, it should be wholly for PP plus children.

do the class teachers get told which children are bringing in the PP?
- and the school secretary / admin?
Yes to the teachers because we have to track and monitor PP students closely. Relevant admin staff will know. School staff will have access to the PP lists. It's usually a list generated by a report on the information system.
Don't worry about speaking to school. If you feel self conscious you could ask to speak to the PP coordinator directly.

LOok on their website there will be an annual breakdown of what the pupil premium funding is spent on. It's usually used for breakfast clubs, support staff to improve the outcomes of pupils eligible for FSM.
Language classes/ EAL support is usually funded through EMAG (Ethic minorities achievement Grant) or whatever it's called now.
As I am out of work due to health reasons the spending allocation of pupil premium funding was one of the things I looked at when choosing a new school for my DS, as it varies so much from school to school.
Once you've checked out what they spend it on, why not discuss it with one of the parent governors if you think it could be better spent?

Hope this helps x

what do you think he should be receiving ?

My dd gets pupil premium due to being a military child and hers this year has paid for her school residential which was £74