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

Why are your children entitled to free school meals? Genuine question.

Yes, this!

I didn't mention sympathy. It's empathy that's lacking. But all she's getting is snide comments about being 'offended about nothing' and being told she's lucky that her kids have free meals so she should just suck it up.

It's grim.

Quite, particularly after all those comments about people in poverty. Even if they were done tongue-in-cheek, they don't prove any point on this thread. You can't complain about being bundled into a cohort and then rehash outdated and offensive stereotypes.

You'd think being an academic high achiever you would have the capacity to understand that schools are using PP funding to engage with parents of PP pupils, a group that statistically is more likely to underachieve. It doesn't mean that every single pupil in that group will underachieve.

Or how about the insinuation that PP kids are entitled to additional types of support, and one of the ways they provide that is study skills sessions for parents. I don’t need study skills - I’m very well educated - but my kids would qualify for PP. The school isn’t insinuating they’re neglected or abused, just that they are entitled to support.

I’m not having any trouble interpreting national statistics. I’m empathising with the OP.

She's also getting very balanced comments about how funding works and why it's not offensive to use data to target communications.

I think it’s a great opportunity to take up free advice. (and food) I think it’s an embarrassment thing but I grew up on free school meals and I know how beneficial a meeting like this is for those that have children in receipt of FSM. Perhaps you live in an area of poverty (like I did) and your local council is investing money to educate those that need it.

Use it or lose it…

It is fact. Given you actually don’t understand statistics or how they are applied, or why they need t9 be used when planning policy en masse then it’s pointless engaging with you.

Well, they're not anymore because they're adults. But I was a carer for dd1 for quite a while, and it meant I couldn't hold down even a PT job for long. DH has always worked FT, but back then, we were entitled to tax credits, she got DLA, and we got some HB and CTB. The older she got, the less she needed me. Now she doesn't need a carer, and I work FT.

This. Yes, YANBU, I absolutely get where you are coming from op. My kids school did a similar evening and I explained to them why I felt that was not appropriate. 1) for the reason above, they should not be singling out and identifying pp parents and children 2) they are more or less saying let’s get all the low income/poor parents together and give them an education in how they can help their children because they need it more than other parents. They also can give the poor people a free buffet 🙄. Incredibly patronising.
Whether FSM children statistically need more help is not the question, it is the way this is being delivered.
Children who receive pp and their parents should not be identified in this way, in the past kids have been bullied for receiving FSM that is why it is not supposed to be obvious when they collect their FSM.
Honestly, some schools are so out of touch. I wonder if this is in a similar ‘naice’ area to the one I live in 🙄.
I wonder how many people commenting that they can’t see a problem have ever claimed FSM.

No they wouldn’t necessarily be aware. Many families have only just joined the school (year 7) and not a lot of information goes with them. Secondary schools have hundreds of students - they’re not going to know the circumstances of every family.

I have.

Not offended at all.

Obviously, it's great that PP kids are entitled to extra support (something both my dds needed as they're dyslexic), but that doesn't mean I need help! Target those families that have already been identified to have chaotic or dysfunctional home lives.

Given that I have a degree in statistics and how they are applied in educational settings, plus 30 years of teaching experience, your claims are incorrect.

🤣🤣🤣

My kids get FSM and I see absolutely no problem at all. They aren't going to be identified to anyone who isn't also receiving PP so why does it matter if they know who each other are?

Why do some posters think schools get pupil premium funding? Schools have to include a report on their website stating what they spend the funding on and what impact it has. School data includes data on pupil premium children

I’m a single parent and would bloody love it if the school I want my kids to go to for secondary put single parent families at the top of the admissions criteria like they do pupil premium students. My kids probably don’t need that support, but I certainly wouldn’t go getting all offended that someone was trying to help single parent families because I personally didn’t need it.

its honestly ridiculous that targeted support is now seen as offensive.

I missed that this was a secondary school, I was thinking it was a primary school.

The problem with that is that all kids in dysfunctional homes are often not known to the school, there may be families on the edges who would benefit from support and families not in any way dysfunctional or chaotic who would value it.

Being invited isn’t a judgement - it’s an offer of support which parents can take or leave.

I think the correct response to a statistician who doesn’t understand the application of help based on statistics is, yes dear.

The other thing posters are missing is the natural personalities of teenagers. School events help parents and teachers form a united front , parents know what the teachers have said about how to study etc, and everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet

targeted yes. To whole cohorts with no anonymity- no!!.
My child and their needs are unique to them. PP or not.

This grouping is really really poor.

BAME children underperform. Shall we invite all the BAME families in and target them?? Never.