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

Your home environment would benefit from improving, everyone's will.

So every parent would benefit then @Naanspiration ? Then every parent should be invited. It's not like the extra numbers will cost much more. Dispense with the buffet tea and there won't be any extra expense.

You may live in a different area to me but where I live, it is very close knit with children living very close to the school, it would not take a genius to work out who was going to the school and what for.
As stated before, it’s not the statistics that are being argued, it’s the delivery. Basically, let’s get all the poor parents into school so we can educate them and give the poor things some free food. It’s identifying them and also making them feel like they are lesser and must need educating, very patronising. Like a pp suggested there are much better ways to support families who need it.

The pupil premium is to be spent on the kids who qualify for it - it's not for everyone.

The emails says the meeting includes "short overview of how we use Pupil Premium funding" - why would the whole school be invited to hear that.

It's extra money for children from lower income families.

It's targeted funding based on empirical evidence.

Well this letter and school sound very welcoming and I’d be happy to send my child to a school that actually cares about my child.
I love my food, so I’ll be up for some free food.
I’m not actually a pupil premium parent. But if I was then I’d be so happy to know how much the school is being transparent about how they are spending
their funds for my child.
OP it sound like you are embarassed by your present position.
Suck it up and go if you want to discuss your child’s future plans by the school and if you want to find out how to support your child.
I appreciate any advice and help on my kids.
no need to be offended.

The elephant in the room: some lower-income parents are as thick as pig shit.

We all know this right?

Ffs

Because YOU are an outlier doesn't mean that it's the same for ALL

That’s what “outlier” means.

If you understand what an outlier is, then you would also understand why policy is not made to fit outliers. It is made to target as many in the required group as possible. Only an idiot is offended by it because it doesn’t apply to them.

I think the implication is that PP parents are not capable of supporting their child's education without this, and it feels patronising. PP students have worse outcomes, and a lot of PP students will come from backgrounds of the poverty cycle and limited education, however some won't.

Imagine if you were well educated but had fallen on hard times and received this email. I'd find it very patronising.

It reads as though PP parents are stupid lol. And unfortunately the kind of parents this needs to target probably aren't going to be the sort of people who show up 🙈

I thought you weren’t engaging because it’s pointless?

Oh so you do understand that then?

I’m educated enough to understand the issues, the needs and the motivations behind this. And I’m able to actually think it through and recognise that it doesn’t apply to me but is a necessary initiative and they have to cast the net over the whole target group. I’d think anyone getting offended or patronised needed a little help actually, if they couldn’t also come to that conclusion.

Of course specifically targeting PP parents implies the school think they won't/don't know how to support their children. Being eligible for PP doesn't mean being uninterested or stupid.

If the skills are so valuable, why not offer it to all parents? Or parents of children who are falling below a particular standard? Or a particular cohort?

It would raise an eyebrow from me too, OP - I see what they're trying to do but they've gone about it in such a foot in mouth way it's insulting. YANBU.

You are looking to be offended. Feeling offended doesn’t mean something is offensive. Let it go.

Oh and the free food isn't "entice the peasants in with a mangy sandwich"

Events held after school often mean that dinner times will be disrupted - offering food stops complaints of "we can't come because the kids will be starving", "I have to come straight from work and I need to eat" etc

Although, yes, for some people the idea of some free food will also be a draw and a bonus

You’re being ridiculous. Elevate are a well-known seminar provider and extremely good. They normally run multiple sessions as part of a package and so you are likely to be one of a series of audiences. Choose not to be offended, and sit through something you probably already know in case you learn something you don’t- parent tax regardless of whether you’re child is in receipt of pupil premium funding or not.

Something can be necessary whilst still feeling patronising. Can you really not understand why this might feel alienating to some people? It 'others' poorer families and whilst it's absolutely necessary and hopefully helpful, it still comes with the implication that poor families are not capable of supporting their children to study.

Is it these guys that will be bestowing their knowledge?

Elevate Education About

Probably like one of them job clubs things for povos

patronising obvious shit
Who the heck need times management explaining other than an idiot !

The email is polite and well-written and is offering an opportunity to build a relationship with the school and learn more about how to help your DC. There's no reason to take offense at it except for your interpretation of the term 'pupil premium'. I'm not from the UK so when I read this term I thought it was something to do with a higher rate of tuition that you pay at a private school(!) because I don't have context on what PP means. Clearly for you, there is some negativity associated with having DC who are described as 'pupil premium' and so you interpreted the email negatively. Since I have no such associations with the term 'pupil premium' because I don't know the context, it didn't come across to me in any way as being patronising.

You reminded me of my son's first year at school: his teacher stopped me after class one day and offered me information about parenting classes that the school district were running for free. I was so offended and went home and cried because I thought that it meant she had seen something in my parenting or my son's behavior that showed her I was a terrible parent! I felt insecure in my parenting at the time because he was my first DC and I was navigating a totally new school system. I can see now, looking back, that I was being oversensitive but I was not feeling confident in myself at the time. So maybe this is a good chance for you to reflect on why you perceived the email so negatively when it wasn't intended that way?

My husband is in the armed forces so I would be a PP parent (ours is still a toddler). I dont think there is anything wrong with offering the extra support.

Brilliant post.

Did she offer it to any other parents? If not then I think she was absolutely implying your parenting was bad.

deletd as duplicate post

The glaring thing here though is that the OP is worried about being “outed” as being PP but given that it’s an invitation to PP parents only, the only other people there would be PP parents. So if she goes then it’s only with other PP parents who are in the same boat and therefore unlikely to judge negatively. If she doesn’t go then no-one knows her status.

it actually sounds as though the real issue is the idea of being “lumped” with other PP parents.