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

Vulnerable in the sense that they are more likely to underperform.

And yet, there is post after post on this thread showing that many kids who get PP do, do well. Surely those children who have already been identified as vulnerable are the ones whose parents should be the target audience? I can see that this event would be beneficial to some, but not all PP kids need this kind of help.

My dd1 is considered a vulnerable adult because she's autistic, even though she's very capable and independent. Yes, there can be times when she's probably more vulnerable than neurotypical 22 year olds, but she has a very supportive family around her, and so doesn't need outside help.

It's the insinuation that ALL kids who get PP must come from broken, or dysfunctional, or abusive homes and therefore need help.

Er, nooooooooo. I have looked and looked at that email, and read it through twice, and cannot see anything to be offended about.

Imagine for a minute that the school in question didn’t start yesterday and doesn’t have years of experience dealing with things and is able to identify the likely issues a particular part of the student body consistently encounters or has issues with. By all means ignore their offer but don’t assume you’re right and they’re wrong.

It’s evidence backed. PP kids underperform. PP kids have home lives which do not provide as much support as other kids get.

Not every single one of them. And not due to malicious parents. A single parent working and parenting simply has less time to provide their child with the same support another kid might get. A parent who can’t work due to caring responsibilities also does not always have the time to provide their child with the support another child might get. They don’t get as many extra curriculars due to finances. They may live in more crowded 94 smaller accommodation in areas which have bad influences around. The list goes on and on.

It is not due to shitty parenting. But it is due to their circumstances. And schools need to try and support that, and help and speak to parents.

It’s actual fact. Be offended all you like. That doesn’t change the issues. Hands on support and help does.

As the highly educated child of a single parent and a single parent of a DC who has a First from Cambridge, please stop making assumptions.

Kids on FSM are more likely to underperform, therefore they are vulnerable in the sense that their success in education is less likely than their peers who aren't on FSM

PP children statistically perform worse than their peers and often have less engagement and attendance. They might come from homes with a very low income or have parents who are unable to work. This is not offensive. It’s factual. Lucky you if you if you don’t need the help but most PP families do. Also, you do realise that the majority of parents have to pay for their kids lunch’s and don’t get them free?? Costing me a fortune. I’d love to be invited to a support meeting with free tea and get to meet their teachers.

I'm not uk so don't know what pupil premium is, though I can guess, but this seems fine.

People misunderstanding the majority =/= all and that there will always be a few outliers is exactly the problem with this site sometimes

It's not insinuating that at all, it's saying it's more likely not that it's inevitable

It’s like I’m talking to someone who has no grasp of how schools or any large organisation works. Do you have no grasp of efficiency?

They know the group which needs the help. They target that group.
it won’t apply to everyone in that group, but it will apply to most. The admin in narrowing that groups down further is a waste of resources. They already have the group to target. So they do. It’s that simple.

If it doesn’t apply to you, then don’t go. If you think you don’t need the help l, then don’t go. But to get offended by them targeting a group who absolutely do underperform? It just highlights a lack of critical thinking.

Show me an incredibly privileged person! ⬆Obviously, you've no experience of dramatic life changes, or disability or illness, FFS!

Yes, I have just looked this up. I admit I didn't know what it was, as I haven't have kids at school for around 15 years, but that is correct.

Any doubters, just google it. It comes up on loads of sites what 'pp pupils' means.

.

This thread demonstrates how MC Mumsnet is. Hardly anyone having any empathy for OP, or even bothering to try to understand how she might feel and why.

I'm going to have to abandon it soon, because it's winding me right up. And I'm a middle class retired teacher.

There will be more time to ask questions from the pupil premium parents and have them answered. Other parents may be able to afford tutors so don’t need this so much, and statistically it’s an underachieving cohort so good on the school for focussing on it.
Some people could manufacture offense from a piece of buttered toast, as another poster said whatever happened to ‘that’s not for me’. Maybe it isn’t, can you let the school focus on the other families with pupil premium please instead of this we have to equally dedicate resources to all families no matter how privileged??

it is a really clumsy and extremely exclusionary way to group people! I’m quite shocked that it has made it through to parents without someone with half a brain saying——we no this is a terrible way to communicate with our families.

id go because I’m gobby and would tell
them that I thought their bat call to the povvos was really offensive!

PP is given for a variety of reasons and to scoop all Pp Kids families like this a really gobsmacking. The assumption is really something else!

People can feel however they like about something, it doesn't mean it's automatically wrong /crap/offensive

It’s not actual fact. I was a recipient of free school meals and an academic high achiever. It’s not possible to generalise statistics to every PP child. It’s offensive and I completely understand why the OP is offended, not by the school email but by your remarks.

She really doesn't need sympathy though.

My point is surely schools are already aware of the families that need support? So instead of targeting an entire group where many aren't going to need the help, specifically target those families who you already know need help.

What part are you bothered about?

I appreciate this might be a sensitive point for you, but you can surely see that including a meal will be an incentive for some people to attend - their kids are on FSM so not a huge leap To consider that parents might not have a full fridge & appreciate something. Many pupils on PP, will be from disadvantaged families on very low incomes who do need extra support. if this doesn’t apply to you then don’t attend but to be offended is ridiculous.

If you are such an academic high flier why are you having trouble understanding very basic national statistics

You’d think someone so highly educated could understand statically significant differences and why they need to be addressed.

Just like kids on FSM, kids from single parent families underperform (as a group) compared to kids from two parent households.

Some schools, some in my local authority, gave those kids extra enrichment and support.

It’s just instant a group who, as a whole, underperform. It isn’t offensive, it doesn’t mean there aren’t kids out there performing just as well as their peers or better. It just means that statistically, they are less likely to do well.