Can a child receive Pupil Premium funding at a private school?

[dairymilkisevil]

DD is at private school on a hefty scholarship and bursary.

I now receive child tax credit and have an income of £4K per year. I am separated very recently hence why I am now claiming.

Next school I hope to get DD into is a grammar and its admissions rules say that kids who are receiving pupil premium (ie, it says, those who receive free school meals) get priority admission. We are out of catchment otherwise, but it's a terrific school and it would be great if she could go there through this rule.

However, with DD currently being at private school, the fees there include lunch anyway. So she doesn't get free school meals because nobody there pays extra for them, IYSWIM.

So How I can improve to the grammar school that she is eligible for free school meals / pupil premium? Do private schools have access to the Pupil Premium for the kids there who are on bursaries mama scholarships?

Sorry, meant to say DD only has one more year at primary school, and I can just about pay for that last year out of savings. But after that it needs to be state school or the local grammar. Hence my question

The point of pupil premium is to level the playing field for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. If your dd goes to a private school, she isn't disadvantaged and she should not get priority admission.

I don't believe so

As for how you could prove that she is eligible for free school meals - I guess you'd have to check if you would qualify and then withdraw her from the private school for her final year.

Pupil premium is for children at publicly funded schools (according to the DfE) so no.

OP has stated she at the private school on scholarship and bursary.

Sorry I cannot answer your question, OP

If it is a form you are filling in I would just write at the side of the question - Eligible for free school meals.

I don't think it will affect the admissions process either way.

It depends on the exact wording of the admissions criteria but if your child would be eligible to receive pupil premium if they were at a state school at the moment then theoretically yes they would fit into this category of the admissions criteria. The proof you will need is evidence that you would be entitled to FSM if you were at a state school. Usually you are eligible if you are on certain specific benefits and have an income under £16k if I remember correctly. A quick google of FSM and pupil premium should give you the current eligibility criteria.

We can't tell you. You need to look at the admissions criteria carefully and really analyise the construction of the sentance.
If it says "recieving free school meals" I would guess that they mean actually in reciept of free school meals now- rather than theorectically entitled to them if a claim were to be made.
If in doubt you could always ask the school how you should interpret it.

The PP funding goes to schools from DfE via direct grant. As independent schools don't receive this, I don't see how they could be in receipt of pp funding.
The only exceptions would be the LAC PP grant, because it is devolved through the LA, not directly from DfE.

But let's be honest- she isn't disadvantaged, is she?
Is the school really not up to getting her through the entrance exam?

entitled?

No, it’s not paid to those who can access private education, op. The supposed disadvantage has been more than levelled out there
There is no particular reason why she should get priority admission to a state secondary.

I don’t know either but I think eligibility does not mean they physically have to eat the free meal every day. Our state school urges parents to register for it even if they prefer to bring packed lunch, because it increases funding for school,.
I’d ring the LA and ask.

Private schools don’t receive PP funding. If it’s a grammar school you are looking at getting your child in to be aware that admissions criteria will also be subject to an academic test usually and so your child would have to achieve the required score in this PLUS you’d need to prove the PP eligibility to get in I think.

Pupil premium & FSM are actually two different indicators. Many more children are entitled to pp than the most impoverished who also get FSM.
I would imagine those are the ones at greatest disadvantage.

FYI our local grammar schools state: pp means those registered for fsm at any point in last six years. It isn't enough to be eligible (due to your income), you must apply for fsm, which you cannot do in a non-maintained school.

No I don’t think you can claim that she’s on FSM and goes to a private school. It depends how likely she is to get in the grammar whether it’s worth moving her to state school now.

The PP funding that state schools get isn’t dependent on you actually taking up the FSM (kids could have packed lunches for example) but is provided for pupils who would be eligible for it because of their family low income. It makes no difference whether your child is currently at private school (or indeed whether they are paying for the private school or there on a full bursary). If you are eligible for PP then you are entitled to it (and to any ‘advantage’ this gives you in the admissions criteria)

Chateau May well be right. The exact situation regarding PP and admissions will vary from school to school. So you really need to check the exact wording of the specific school you are looking at.

I just don't understand why on earth you think she should qualify for priority admission for disadvantaged kids when you've been paying for her (with the help of scholarships) to have advantages for all of these years?

That’s complete tosh, Poppy

It makes no difference whether your child is currently at private school (or indeed whether they are paying for the private school or there on a full bursary). If you are eligible for PP then you are entitled to it (and to any ‘advantage’ this gives you in the admissions criteria)

What nonsense! How could you possibly be eligible for it at a private school? How do you think the school would go about claiming the money?

It makes no difference whether your child is currently at private school (or indeed whether they are paying for the private school or there on a full bursary). If you are eligible for PP then you are entitled to it

Not so, Poppy.
She isn't entitled to it, because the child is not in a maintained school. The only exceptions to this are where a child attends a special school that is independent, and the fees are paid fully by their LA (i.e. Sen dept)

You misunderstand me. The child is not currently entitled to it at private school because private schools don’t receive PP funding. The point I was making is that she would be entitled to it if she were at state school, and so, for the purposes of the admissions criteria - if the admissions criteria is just eligibility not actually having been in physical receipt as in the case of the grammar school Chateau talks about - then the child would be able to be considered under this category.

I assume Grammar schools have this rule to show, in theory, that they are accessible to all.

However, you would need to check whether it means you have had to have been eligible for pupil premium whilst at Primary School, so in effect have bucked the trend, by being able to pass the exam (as statistically children eligible for FSM get lower grades, hence the need for pupil premium) or whether you would be eligible for FSM when your child starts at Grammar School.

I assume a child who had been previously in state Primary School and not eligible for FSM, then circumstances change so they would be eligible when attending the Grammar School may be in a similar position as the OP.

I assume though as you have to apply the year before they would be looking at children who are currently or who have been eligible for Pupil Premium. Interestingly I assume some children may miss out on this admissions criteria if their parents didn't apply for FSM, even if they were eligible. I know DS's Primary School kept reminding parents to apply if eligible, even if they didn't want school dinners, so the school could get extra funding.