To feel offended by this email from the school?

[PupilpremiumWTF]

I think I'll just post the email without any elaboration for now, and see what people think, this is copied and pasted directly, with identifying info changed:

Dear Mrs X,

It’s great to be able to invite you to a special evening for parents of our Pupil Premium students in Years 7, 8 and 9 on Thursday 20th November 2025.

We’ll be starting with a light buffet tea from 5:00 pm, giving you the chance to chat informally with staff and other parents before the evenings presentations begin.

At 5:30 pm, I’ll give a short overview of how we use Pupil Premium funding here at school to support students’ learning and wellbeing, and to help every child make the best possible progress.

From 6.00 pm to 7:00 pm, we will to be joined by Elevate Education, who will deliver a practical, engaging seminar designed to help parents support learning at home.

Topics covered will include:

- Time Management – helping your child to plan effectively and avoid last-minute stress.

• - Study Support – understanding what effective study looks like and how to make it stick.
• - Motivation – discovering what really drives student motivation and how to nurture it.
• - Parent E-book Access – every parent attending will receive a free e-book full of strategies and guidance.

This is a brilliant opportunity to pick up some useful ideas and find out more about how we’re supporting your child’s progress in school.

I really hope you’ll be able to join us for what promises to be an enjoyable and informative evening.

Please let us know if you can attend by completing the form on EduLink.

Kind regards,

Mr Y
Senior Assistant Headteacher

Oh right what is it? I’ve never heard of it?

op stated herself ”Kids that are entitled to benefit-related free school dinners”.

Yes PP is provided for all pupils eligible for free school meals. It is also provided for pupils who have been recorded as eligible for free school meals within the last 6 years and children previously looked after by an LA or other state care, including children adopted from state care outside England and Wales. Some parents seem to think it is a personal budget, which may be where the idea that it is hard to come by comes from. In reality, it provides the school with additional funding (currently £1,515 per eligible primary-aged pupil, £1,075 per eligible secondary-aged pupil). It doesn't have to be used solely to benefit pupils eligible for PP, but Ofsted strongly encourage schools to use it to support those pupils and others with identified needs such as those who act as carers.

Pupil premium was introduced by Michael Gove based on clear evidence that pupils eligible for it are disadvantaged and have lower educational attainment than other pupils. I note that a poster on this thread has described that evidence as "bullshit". It most definitely is not.

It’s to help support your child’s learning, I’d go. Id see it as an opportunity to learn something that might help them, even if you’re confident in that it doesn’t hurt to hear possible different approaches. I also think it’s good for your child to see that you’re invested in their learning and collaborative with the school.

The buffet tea is practical, lots of people eat their dinner between 5-7 and might’ve come straight from work so think it’s courteous to offer something at that time.

They're just trying to do something about the statistical gap in attainment between PP students and the rest of the student body. I'd be very surprised if SEND students' parents weren't offered something like that too given that they also have a statistical attainment gap. If you don't want to go then don't go. What they are actually saying is that they recognise that parents want to support their children but they may not know how to most effectively do that. That doesn't seem particularly offensive or untrue as a general rule.

I wouldn't be offended. The use of the funding must be based on some kind of broader data that suggests it's a good use of the money. Not all students on PP will need the same support and you don't have to go if it isn't relevant or useful to you.

I assume schools have to prove that they are taking steps to improve outcomes for kids who get pupil premium, rather than just putting the money in the pot and using it equally for all kids.

@PupilpremiumWTF
I'm not going to read 213 posts, although I've read all of yours.
So apologies if this has been said 199 times.

It is a fact that poorer pupils leave school with lower results/achievements than children of richer families.

Governments (of every colour) going back 50+ years know this.

So that's why there are children whose families qualify for PP/FSM.

Because of this ⏫️ responsibilities are put on schools to "narrow the gap"

Your child's school is trying or doing something to support the children of poorer families to help them achieve as well as children from richer families.

Are you offended by that ethos, even if you don't like the gimmick?

Is that across the board? Or are there those rare gem, 1 in a million kids that might just do well? I know they must so incredibly rare as we all know how much money you have is equal to your level of intelligence.

I think probably for every person offended by it, they might be one or two who actually might be interested in at least attending to see if there might be anything to take away from it in terms of tips/ideas. It’s always going to be difficult, as I’m sure the school realises it will offend some parents, but I guess they feel that even if the meeting helps a handful of parents, it’s been worthwhile.

It's an average obviously.

But statistics don't work in rare gems do they?
We don't stop cancer research because some rare gems go into spontaneous remisssion

We went to a GCSE revision skills and exam technique info evening for our year 11.

It contained many of the topics mentioned and lots about the importance of good sleep, mental wellbeing and good nutrition etc. They really banged on about things like screen time limits to aid bedtimes etc.

I don't need this advice or info as I already limit my child's screen time, feed them well and support their mental health but I wasn't offended to sit through the talk.

This was an open invite session and like always, even though the school were keen to stress the support they have in place for those students who are seriously at risk of not even getting basic gcse passes, or hwo face particular challenges whilst readying for exams, the q&a and slt time was taken up by keen bean parents wanting to know how to support their child to get from predictions of 7s to 8s and 9s for eg.

As soon as you make something like this open invite, the people who might most benefit or who may want to ask questions but feel socially stigmatised don't feel able to. By targeting an intervention or event, they are aiming to create a space and opportunities for support to be offered if it is needed.

A school locally to us has a military families group and the children get a forest school session together every half term, a summer bbq and additional trips out and about, presumably funded by pp funding. No one is offended to be part of it - they post pictures on social media.

Careful. You'll offend someone!

There is a statistically significant difference.
They have to form policy and practice around the statistics to help as many kids as they can. Of course there are individuals within the group who outshine everyone, but that doesn’t change the fact that those kids as a group are, from the outset, disadvantaged and the schools have a responsibility to close that gap.

I am a single parent. My kids got FSM in primary. But both my kids had a maths teacher and an English teacher come down from the high school to teach them the high school curriculum once the teacher primary 6. They’re now in high school and still working way ahead of their peers. But they were FSM kids, and I got all the communication and invites for extra support. Wasn’t offended by any of it, because it is needed for the group as a whole.

It’s called equity. Why do so many’s adults have such a problem with disadvantaged kids who statistically perform poorly being targeting with extra support, for them and their parents because it needs to start at home. Schools can only do so much.

Yes, but they can't offer it to everyone because it's funded by PP!

Honestly, either go or don't go but no need to be offended about it!

My point was that kids who do well and are entitled to FSM aren't rare gems. Yes they're certainly more disadvantaged but there are many kids from poor backgrounds who excel and do well.

And that’s great for them. But has nothing to do with the larger issue that most of those kids do not perform as well as their peers and they need and deserve additional support, and we should all be encouraging that.

Do you want their additional support to stop because some kids do well regardless?

If pupil premium kids were no more likely to be from a background which needs extra support, then there would be no point to the pupil premium in the first place. It’s great you don’t need extra support, but YABVU to suggest events like these shouldn’t happen for the benefit of those PP students who are more vulnerable.

This what AI says pupil premium is for:
(and the thing you’ve been invited to seems in line with it)

Pupil premium is government funding for schools to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, such as those from low-income families or children who have been in care. The funds are used for a variety of initiatives, including providing extra academic support, funding educational trips and music lessons, and supporting a child's ability to attend school and succeed. Schools are accountable for how they use the funding, and the main goal is to reduce the attainment gap between disadvantaged students and their peers

If kids’ who pupil premium didn’t generally need more support, then there would be no such thing as pupil premium. From the above, there is an attainment gap. Do you not want that gap addressed?

It’s not just about how much money you have, it includes other statistically disadvantaged groups. I’d go because while I know my kids are very well
parented the reality is they belong to a cohort of children who do not do well in education. So anything I can do, any knowledge I can gain that might help tip that balance is worth an evening of my time. If all it does is affirm my current approach, that’s great, but invariably I learn something new along the way.

Yeah, it would be more like “does your kid get free school meals? Oh in that case, we need to film you and make sure you don’t shoplift”

My kids got FSM too. One went to a special school as she's autistic so doubly disadvantaged. Both are dyslexic. DD1 is doing level 3 Joinery in college and dd2 has just started an English degree.

I don't need this advice or info as I already limit my child's screen time, feed them well and support their mental health but I wasn't offended to sit through the talk.

Sometimes it's just nice to hear you're doing the right thing already, isn't it?

Not at all, it's more like no motorbike helmets in a petrol station

This is extremely offensive and I hope you’re not a teacher.