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

If you don’t think you need the support then don’t go.
But it is disingenuous for you to ignore that fact that, as a group, PP students have poorer outcomes than non PP students. Not to mention that schools are often criticised for not being transparent about how they spend this money.

They don't get funding for everyone, so can't invite everyone to get additional support that could benefit their children.

They don't get funding for everyone as statistically, PP students underperform in comparison as a whole, so rightly so, interventions are supported financially and this is one of the only ones I've seen in many years actually trying to use the funding to help.

Not all PP students need it, so ignoring it is fine, being offended that school are offering additional support that they can't afford to extend to everyone is ludicrous.

It's ideology to exclude other kids when it would cost hardly anything extra to include them, in the name of 'fairness' aka levelling down.

Taxes pay for events like this. I expect the best possible return on that money - which means improving attainment as much as possible for as many kids as possible, not limiting it to a few kids to give a few 'preferred' kids some kind of boost in relation to their peers. It's not about individual fairness, it's about an investment in the country's future.

These children are targeted for more help because by the end of secondary they are on average 19 months behind in what they achieve, which is shocking. This has a huge effect on their future choices in life and it is only right that help is targeted at those children in order to try to close the gap.

As a school governor I wouldn't be happy with this as it singles out and identifies all of the pupils getting PP.
It is likely to do more harm than good. A well intentioned idea but badly delivered.
I guessing that many of those responding that it's fine don't have a child receiving pupil premium.

Sadly this actually does happen, cognitive bias is real if you have a child in one of the 'disadvantaged groups'. The negative perception is across all socio economic groups though, no one really escapes this.

Treating everyone the same is not being fair though.

Overall PP pupils (and it isn't only children on FSM) underperform. That's why PP exists. Of course it doesn't mean EVERY SINGLE CHILD in that group underperforms.

DD got various extras during COVID - not sure whether it was because she is ex-LAC (adopted) or has an EHCP. After COVID there were various holiday activities and on one occasion a take-home food box and recipe to make vegetarian paella.

There were mutterings from some other parents that it was 'unfair' that they didn't get this extra provision, and very possibly parents who felt offended that their child was offered it.

Why be offended? We didn't need them, but probably many (most?) of the other pupils did. We selected those DD wanted to do (pretty much everything because she likes trying new things rather than chilling out at home). I still took annual leave and we did various things together. I still provided healthy and sufficient food.

I didn't take it as a slight on my parenting. You don't need to either. Go, or don't go. Just like any other school session for parents.

What's your evidence, as a Governor, that this sort of initiative "does more harm than good"?

Well, as DD is ex-LAC and has an EHCP we have been offered various extra opportunities. The funding came from DD being in those groups of pupils.

I don't feel offended or patronised. We have accepted those we felt were useful to us, in our specific situation, and declined those that weren't relevant.

I’m a teacher and have never heard of pupil premium so assume this must be in England. At first I couldn’t see any issue with the email however now I can see where you are coming from. Unfortunately there is a poverty gap in education and although it doesn’t mean that all less affluent children don’t have support at home etc sometimes it can be a vicious circle. This will be all about trying to close the attainment gap and they cannot just invite parents/carers who are 100% requiring support so they are inviting the whole group of parents. If I was you I would speak to them about how it has made you feel so they can learn from it moving forward. I honestly think they would feel terrible to have insulted you or anyone.

I can see why you’d be concerned. On the surface it looks like it’s supporting PP parents, but the meeting then goes on to deliver “training” on how PP parents can support their children thus assuming that those parents are NOT currently doing so. It’s patronising and stereotyping those parents as being feckless and in need of support. If that were the case, those parents aren’t even going to show up!
This should be something thats made available to all parents regardless of income.

That’s because there is a correlation between low income/living on benefits and incompetent living and parenting. So they are targeting this in a blanket way.

Of course there are many it’s not applicable to (ie you) who are perfectly competent and just happen to qualify for pupil premium for whatever reason. And on the other end of the scale, there are some parents who could do with that help but don’t qualify for pp. Don’t take it personally, be glad that they are trying to help those parents and kids who do need it.

I suppose I might feel a bit uneasy that by being invited to this event, my child would be identified as a child attracting PP, when I might not have chosen to make that known to other parents.

The other thing is it does feel like Elevate Education might be there to sell me something. A quick look at their website and reviews suggests this could be the case.

Yes they can. Assuming this event is being paid for out of PP funding, it can be open to all pupils with the assumption that PP parents will also attend. The guidance as yo how this specific funding can be spent makes this very clear,

I would say you’re being unreasonable but I remember how I felt in a similar situation. We had sold our house and were waiting to move into a new build which kept being delayed and delayed, meaning we ended up moving some distance to stay with mil for what ended up being I think 8 months rather than bankrupt ourselves by renting and this resulted in my ds starting at the local nursery pre reception. Due to the postcode being in a not so great area, the school received funding for this sort of thing and I was frequently being asked in the playground by well meaning support staff or through letters home if I needed help with reading and writing, if I wanted to attend some kind of morning in the hall about cooking on a budget, a credit union input on sorting finances etc. I found it quite insulting and patronising because surely not everyone who lives in that area needs help with the basics.

DH grew up in the area and was much more practical about it, saying they couldn’t very easily target that kind of support sometimes so would offer it to everyone at the school who might be interested etc which I could understand but it still didn’t feel good to be presumed to be struggling just because of the area we were staying in. It felt almost like my ability to parent was being questioned and I didn’t like it although I of course understand why they provide it and ultimately think it’s a good thing that it’s there.

A few years ago when my son was in primary school, we received Pupil Premium. He was doing very well in all aspects of learning and was above the expected level. One day after school he told me that he had been taken out of class and put in a group to do some reading comprehension. I checked with his teacher the next day and she said he was put in this group because he gets PP and it was to give him extra help. This was ridiculous. I told her he didn't need it and she agreed, and he was taken out of it.
My beef with this was:

1. They obviously make sweeping presumptions that pupils on PP were underperforming.
2. They didn't bother to do a quick administrative check with his teacher to see if it was needed.

A waste of time and money, and very presumptive.

You’ve got a choice put your ability to be offended first or put your child first

Have worked in schools for a long time. In my experience when meetings are held for everyone the pp pupils’ parents never come. They are the pupils who are lowest performing in the class. Homework regularly not done, don’t come to parent/teacher meetings. We love all the pupils in our class and want the best for them but a lot of pp pupils’ parents either don’t care or think we will solve all their problems. I’m sure my comment will cause offense but it is the truth.

I think you sound rather chippy.

@Wowwhataworld it brings in at least £1,000 per pupil in that category per year, up to £2,630, so it makes a huge difference to school budgets in areas of England with a lot of pupils who qualify. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pounds.

How it's spent is a BIG deal.

@CottageLoaf as a group, pupils in that category do underperform though? There are obviously outliers.

Yes, I'm not denying that. But a quick check with his teacher would have saved time.

the research is that students in receipt of pupil premium do worse than the national average. Hence why pupil premium exists and schools have a duty to explain how they target and support these particular students. You might be the exception but school is working based on research and trying to support families. Get over yourself

My husband left me for another woman when I had 3 kids aged 5,3 and a newborn so I had to apply for all kinds of benefits to get by for about 9 months until I got a job. Eldest was in primary so was put on PP. He qualified for less than a school year. All of my kids throughout their school life have consequently been put on some kind of PP register that’s been nothing but patronising. Trips to a university ‘to break down barriers around education’- I’m a second generation university graduate, their father is a university graduate. Extra sessions in Maths and English despite them being predicted and achieving A* GCSE results (2 down, one to go). Their achievements have been purely their own hard work, good attitude to learning and home support which was nothing to do with anything the school has guided by a PowerPoint presentation and a few curled up sandwiches. The latest PP innovation is to send PP parents an email every week thanking them for their 100% attendance.

I also grew up very poor (single teenage mother) and have achieved well academically so I find this poor= thick and incompetent idea quite insulting.