Forces family

[coccyx]

We are moving back to our home after being on tour with husband for 3 years. my youngest is due to start school in Sept 2012. Then I need to get places for the others.
can't get onto council website at moment but a friend in Uk said need to explain hubby in forces as school gets a supplement. Is this true? We are going back to where we lived before not into Mod accomodation

On the enrolment/admission form there will be a box to tick to say if you're a forces family.

The school will receive an extra £200 per child because of it.

Yes, I live in a forces "area" and we regularly ask parents if they are in the forces as the extra money comes in handy!

oh right. thats a 600 pound bonus if I can get them into same school. ! thanks

Not that it will affect your chances of getting in, of course!

'Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit, they will be held accountable for how they have used the additional funding to support pupils. However new measures will be included in the performance tables that will capture the achievement of those pupils covered by the Pupil Premium. From September 2012, we will also require schools to publish online information about how they have used the premium. This will ensure that parents and others are made fully aware of the progress and attainment of pupils covered by the premium.'

Many schools with forces children have now employed a member of staff to liaise between service families and the school (using the pupil premium). That person will also help integrate new arrivals and deal with emotional problems when parents are on tour. They'll also assist in communication between children and absent parents.
Schools also need to analyse data rigorously to show the effect of the transience of their populations and identify areas of need for forces pupils. They must be seen to be providing interventions for any areas of weakness.

It sounds a bit of a windfall, but it isn't! It's a very good thing to have the family support system in place though.

Well I never imagined it would help me get into a school as its the council that allocate places not the school.
Is it supposed to be for benefit of whole school?

www.aff.org.uk/army_family_life/education_childcare/admissions_appeals.htm

Not sure what Service you are but these are regulations that affect school admissions. Hope they are useful. I think you are still viewed as a Forces family even if you live in your own house especially as you are returning from a tour abroad.
You may get more information if you ask your question in the Forces sweethearts section in the In the Club Part.

It depends on the number of forces children, we currently have 2 ( we are a small school!) so, although the money is nice, it doesn't exactly pay for much-certainly not for a member of staff! But it might be used for example to pay for some 1;1 support or tuition to cover any "interventions" a forces child MIGHT need

You also need to tell them your husband is in the forces as there are special arrangements for admission of forces children. You will need to provide an official letter confirming your husband's posting, a relocation date and an intended address.

Prh47bridge intended address does not need to be on it a unit address will suffice, don't think that applies here though as house is not where DH will be posted (think I recall right correct me if wrong coccyx)

Coccyx you are still counted as a forces family and the school can claim the extra money, which is going up next year. If you can't get into the school you want be wary of any that promote themselves as a "forces" school, IME they want the DCs to get the pupil premium but then your DCs will be labelled as a "pad brat" and then any little hiccups will be due to this and it is easy for the school to overlook any failings on their part.

You also jump to the top of any waiting lists as your DCs officially have no UK school, so you go above any waiting to transfer within the UK

Pimmsgalore - I'm aware that a unit address can be used but, as the OP says they are moving back to "our home", I presumed they already have an address so that didn't seem relevant.

I'm afraid it is not the case that children without a school go to the top of any waiting lists. The waiting list must be ordered using the admission criteria only. Whether or not the child has a school doesn't enter into it. However, children applying outside the normal admissions round who do not have a place will, if necessary, be dealt with under the LA's Fair Access Protocol. This allows them to be admitted to a school even if that school is already full.

But, pimms, the schools with lots of forces children will be accountable for the premium they receive, and will have to show that they are using it to support their forces intake. A member of staff dedicated to family support of forces families is one such example of accountability; interventions on the basis of assessment analyses is another.

Fraidylady just saying that IME having been to a school with special "forces" support programs set up that all the "forces" children are then marked out as such and that is not always a good thing, as in "X must be being disruptive because daddy is X and away or has PTSD" whereas X was being disruptive because the teacher was struggling to control the class, X was working on stuff that they had covered in a previous school and is actually bored stiff I'm all for supporting our DCs but I do not appreciate my DCs being labelled due to my DHs job, there are times when they may throw a wobbly when DH is away but the rest of the time they are well rounded and settled and a school constantly labeling them can be counterproductive

Prh47bridge sorry wasn't picking a fight over it just thought that any other forces family reading this might get the idea they must have an address. Our LA must be explaining the way they apply it slightly wrong as when we came back from overseas they told us we went straight to the top of the list as my DCs had no UK school and were counted as not in education, they then gave us a place ahead of several other children waiting (at this point we had no proof of address in the area and unit address is actually south of the border in another country). Maybe I just got luck :)

pimms sounds like you've had a bad experience. I know things are well on course to make very good use of the forces pupils' premium in several schools in my area.
(Like you I loathe these 'labelling' comments. My pet hate is the comment 'Is he an only child?' when a child's being disruptive. The majority of the time, the answer is 'no', but people just keep on asking it!)