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

I’m fairly sure the Senior Assistant Headteacher isn’t going to leave the profession because some parents don’t attend the PP evening.

Yeah, this. But schools can't do right whatever they do.

Well, exactly. So why aren't they being offered to all parents? Then pupil premium parents can go if they want to, rather than being treated like children who need to be bribed into turning up.

Well they can't spend PP funding on pupils who are not PP.

Thanks. Then I think its dreadful that the school has singled out the parents in this way. No wonder OP is offended.

I think the tone might be a bit off but the intent and sentiment is fine. There’s all sorts of events targeting specific groups of families and it wouldn’t make sense to invite the entire school. Added to that the school is meant to offer additional support to this specific cohort so they’re doing just that.

Our school has specific funding for children who lost a parent - they have additional activities and a support group. The email inviting families to participate is something like this and also implies these families might have additional challenges. Of course they might - but also they might be doing great despite a specific situation.

Oh right, as long as you know everything about it then ... silly me

utterly reasonable that pupil premium students are being given extra support - that is kinda the point after all.

Evidence supports the fact that the home environment is a contributory factor partially underpinning why the pupil is "disadvantaged" in the first place.
Therefore educating the parents is necessary so the parents don't, by their own ignorance of how to be effectively supportive, hold back their own kid

i see nothing "offensive" in such a stance. Attendance is not compulsory and parents are not being tested on whether they are good parents. They are merely being given an opportunity to improve the home environment.

It’s not offensive. Why would you find it offensive for schools to give extra support to kids who, statistically, will perform poorer than their peers?

It’s called equity. Giving each kid what they need to try and put them on equal footing with their peers.

I’m a single parent. I wasn’t at all offended when my kids attended a Friday afternoon ehancement thing for kids from backgrounds which meant they may need extra help.

My kids are both “gifted” (a word I hate but that’s the word). But they’re still from a single parent household so they were given a spot. It isn’t offensive.

Why on earth would this follow? She's offended by the ridiculous stereotyping, not by an (admittedly insufficient) attempt being made by the government to redress some of the gross social injustices in our society.

There are lots of things low income families can't as easily do for their kids, as richer families. Pay for school trips for example. Buy them certain equipment. Afford additional tuition if they need it. This, I would suggest, accounts for the difference in performance of the two cohorts. Unfortunately and unjustlt, money buys you all kinds of advantages in our society.

Nothing to do with poorer parents being inherently unfit, uncaring and incapable parents, as this invitation hints.

See also Young Carers, bereavement groups etc etc

Of course I know that. That's one of the reasons it's bothers me

Bit I don't understand why.
The school get extra funding to support children eligible for pupil premium. They have to use it to support those children not the wider cohort. So this evening is to let you know how they have spent that money to support your child. They don't have the funding to support every child so they can't invite everyone

The thing is, you're taking it personality, it's not. Kids on PP statistically come from parents who don't have your background.

they can't tailor to each individual parent.

i get you don't need their 'tea but if that's what they feel it takes to get some* parents to attend and in turn benefit the children, tgen tea it is.

The funding for the event probably means it's affordable to host, it's a shame that other parents haven't been invited to tge study but (not the use of PP funds)

I wonder what prevented them having the funding stuff first. Then the sultry stuff inviting ALL parents.

i think you should still go, studying yourself & hearing their view on your child studying are different things

Good grief.

Legally, schools can choose how they spend the pupil premium. They can use it for whole class interventions which benefit both disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils.

How stupid.

You are massively wrong , PP pupils come from all walks of life and the Elevate information evenings are offered to all parents .

sounds like the school wants to share how your child’s pp allocation is utilised and make you aware how else you can request it be utilised ie your child has an interest in playing an instrument , extra tuition in a subject or sport they have the ability to excel in given the extra input .

Sorry, I expressed myself badly. Giving additional enrichment to kids whose families may not be able to afford it is of course fine.

I meant, it would be offensive to target the single parents themselves and suggest they did not know how to effectively support their kids.

Are you on crack? Pp is nothing to do with performace or intelligenve, google it

I'm seemed that it took so long for someone to understand why this feels shitty. The school is basically outing every parent who's struggling financially.

I get it OP. And the school should have been recognised that.

It should never be considered offensive to offer help and support to those most in need of help and support.

Don't cut off your nose to spite your face.

But Pupil Premium isn’t just benefits related. It also extends to adopted children/children in care and children from military families.

My daughter falls in one of these categories. While I don’t feel what’s offered in the email would be relevant to us as we don’t need the help, I also would not be offended by it, and would probably go just in case there is something that would benefit us.

I think you’re overthinking/taking it the wrong way OP

The whole reason the Pupil Premium exists is because it is widely known that children from families on lower incomes have worse outcomes in education.

So if you are going to be offended, be offended at the fact that they are giving you the pupil premium.

The school is trying to use the money to help the children do better, this might involve helping the parents do better too.

Some parents are shit, all parents can do better.

It's not the school that's decided to do this it's the government trying to target help where it's needed and children on Free School Meals isn't the only group that qualifies.