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

Um… I’m a single parent. My kids both attended things aimed at single parent family kids. I’m not sure how you know about what goes on in every school all over the country? But maybe let the actual single parents with experience of it say what is true and what isn’t.

Because statistically children who attract pupils premium fare less well at school. If you don’t need it you don’t need to go, but they’re not wrong in offering additional support to parents. Looked after and care experienced children also pupil premium, it’s not just about income level - it’s about children who are more likely to need additional support.

this. Pupils on PP are often from more deprived background as the threshold is low and statistically do much worse at school. You can get offended as much as you want but that’s the stats and what they’re trying to address

Actually I think it is wrong. It should be offered to all parents.

No it's not purely about financial struggles - military kids, children who have gone through the care system - it's much broader than financial issues. Much.

I’d also, as someone with two professional qualifications and a Masters, appreciate information on study skills etc for my kids because the world has turned a few times since I was in school. If you don’t want to go, that’s fine but being offended at being invited to something funded by money the school is being given to level the playing field is ridiculous.

How did they know you are a single parent?

I would have loved this session in general, not in receipt of PP but they sound like useful topics.

You've misunderstood what pp is.

I think the evening probably had lots of details about money and trips etc but unfortunately OP got spooked by the buffet

Pupil premium isn't a benefit for individual pupils, so OP could well give it up and not notice the difference. Schools are understandably keen to get pupils onto PP because it improves their funding. They don't have to use it exclusively for PP pupils, as they can use it for things like whole class initiatives and other pupils who don't qualify for it.

I was a single parent and a teacher (so working and not qualifying for Free School Meals). It's the government policy and all schools have to do the same. It's something Ofsted will check.

I don't think she objects to that bit (though it could be done in an email).

I think the bit she objects to is the bit where, because she is lower income, they think she needs extra tips on how to be a good parent.

Again, I would not be offended. Kids from single parent households perform poker precisely because they have one parent, doing all the work and therefore maybe not providing the same support to their child that a two parent household can. So, if they wanted to talk to me about that and see if the kids had the support they need to match their peers, I would not be offended. At all. Because statistically, my kids are on the back foot and I’d welcome the interest of the school.

Agree with you OP. Very patronising approach from the school.

There are many reasons why pupil premium do worse at school, being lack of nutritional foods and lack of resource the main reasons. Some PP students don’t have electronic device to do homework or can’t charge them at home (I have seen all of this). I do not think that PP students are worse than non-PP students at time-management.

The money is supposed to be spent in school for those children. It's something Ofsted will pull a school up on if this isn't done and it's spent on all children.

I thought lateness affects disadvantaged children more?

That's why they're targeting the PP parents with this rather than the whole school?

PP pupils underperform countrywide, fact.
Do a bit of research!!

Not sure where crack comes into it, maybe in the circles you move in but definitely not mine.
And it is the most bizarre attempt at an insult I have seen in a long time. I pity you.

Quite honestly, as a teacher I have seen PP funding used for other purposes so I’d probably attend and ask plenty of questions about how your DC will benefit from tracked PP funding. I understand the feeling of stigma, though.

Presumably that is why this event is being targeted at this group of parents? Because the funding is intended for them and nobody else.

It sounds quite condescending to me, are they insinuating that parents of pupil premium children need help and support more than others?

Because they do.

Statistics have consistently shown a considerable attainment gap between pp children and their peers, this is evident from the very earliest stage of their educational journey and the gap continues to widen. PP children are also more likely to be persistently absent, which disadvantages them further socially and academically.

Sadly, we know from looking at our data that our PP children are less likely to complete homework, less likely to read regularly with an adult at home, and less likely to have a parent show up to parents evening. They are also less likely to take part in extra-curricular clubs and enrichment opportunities. This is, of course, not the case for all pp children, and it is usually for reasons outside the parents control rather than lack of interest.

Pupil Premium children are also more likely to be open to Children's Services on a Child in Need or Child Protection plan than non-pupil premium children.

Ofsted requires schools to evidence that they are actively trying to engage pp parents in their children's education, and that they are offering additional support and opportunities to pp children an attempt to increase social capital and close the attainment gap.

We don’t have ofsted in Scotland. And schools can run initiatives that they feel their school needs.

Again, I’m not sure why you think you know every initiative being run in every school? It also has nothing to do with FSM funding. Being a single parent doesn’t mean your kid is on FSM. But they may get extra support and enhancement if the school does that for single parent household kids. And it’s nothing to be offended by. I was drawing a parallel between that and this PP meeting the OP is so offended by, I was not saying they are related to each other.

No, lateness affects attendance data and not exam performance.

Does the invite include pupil premium plus children? They also fit within the government category of disadvantage as in care or previously in care. I can see your point of view. My child fits the criteria for PP plus, and I woukdnt be insulted. As an adopter I’d find it refreshing to know what they spend the funding on! I’d like that they were focusing on these kids. I say that from the perspective of my child attending a school that never mentions them. I know from filtering their “excellent” exam results overall, by the category of disadvantage online, they are failing these kids massively. I’d suck up some “strategies” for home if I thought they were investing in these kids.

Yep. It's basically saying that PP parents don't know this stuff, and the parents that aren't invited are already perfect parents.

We all know that that's not the case, and as a retired teacher I certainly know that's not the case.

I stick up for schools and teachers a lot on Mumsnet, but I really do think that this has been done insensitively. I can only imagine that the huge majority of posters who don't get it, are the smug parents who wouldn't get an invitation.

It's awkward, isn't it.

Professionally, I know that children in receipt of PP funding statistically end up with worse results and that is why they are targeting these parents in this way. Personally, I always felt hugely offended by these kind of letters and assumptions - my kids did well academically, and better when taught by me (in covid) than when taught by qualified teachers. They also didn't eat the free school meals because they were used to a better quality of food and fussy... I was poor and not working at the time, not stupid or neglectful. I felt highly insulted. I was fucking furious at the spying check ups done to PP families only by my kids school during lockdowns; it fundamentally changed my relationship with the school.

Sadly though, I do also meet a lot of people who uphold every negative stereotype.