Funding for disadvantaged pupils

UKParliament

Hi MSEs

On Tuesday 21 July at 1pm, the Public Accounts Committee will be examining how the pupil premium is improving disadvantaged pupils’ attainment. This inquiry is based on the National Audit Office's report on Funding for disadvantaged pupils

Watch the inquiry live or via catch-up on Parliament TV

The Public Accounts Committee want to hear your thoughts on the pupil premium. Share your thoughts with them using #pupilpremium.

Read the National Audit Office's Funding for disadvantaged pupils report.

The House of Commons Library have produced a research briefing that details the Pupil Premium policy that was introduced in 2011-12, and sets out how the policy has evolved year-by-year.

School funding: Pupil Premium

Alikay

I wasn't at all impressed with the way one of our foster child's Pupil Premium was spent: Prior to coming to us she'd missed most of reception year so was behind for her age in reading and writing, and had some social issues. The school had a very high number of children from non-english-speaking backgrounds (something like 21 different languages) so the school decided in their wisdom to spend the money on translators. It was of no benefit whatsoever for our British, English-speaking foster child. When we queried it, and requested additional support with her literacy we were simply told that she wasn't struggling too much compared to the rest of the class and they'd just give her additional homework for us to do with her!!

j.e.j.

I can only say I dislike the term pupil premium. It sounds very false to me!
The acronym FDP would be better, imo.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Alikay wrote: »

I wasn't at all impressed with the way one of our foster child's Pupil Premium was spent: Prior to coming to us she'd missed most of reception year so was behind for her age in reading and writing, and had some social issues. The school had a very high number of children from non-english-speaking backgrounds (something like 21 different languages) so the school decided in their wisdom to spend the money on translators. It was of no benefit whatsoever for our British, English-speaking foster child. When we queried it, and requested additional support with her literacy we were simply told that she wasn't struggling too much compared to the rest of the class and they'd just give her additional homework for us to do with her!!

A LAC budget is different to a PPG. I'd be happy that the PPG went to help more children, but not the LAC, because that's supposed to be for the one child.

maman

I'm conscious that Ofsted is putting schools under intense scrutiny to account for how Pupil Premium is spent and demonstrate the impact.


I agree that it's public money for vulnerable children and needs to be accounted for BUT

• in many cases these are children where the impact won't be instantly measureable
• the system hasn't been in place very long compared with previous Special Needs type funding so needs time to get bedded in
• I'd like to see guidelines for spending clarified. For example, could it just be used to reduce class size although that might be difficult to account for success?

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

A LAC budget is different to a PPG. I'd be happy that the PPG went to help more children, but not the LAC, because that's supposed to be for the one child.

Be aware that not all posters will be familiar with such abbreviations.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

maman wrote: »

I'm conscious that Ofsted is putting schools under intense scrutiny to account for how Pupil Premium is spent and demonstrate the impact.


I agree that it's public money for vulnerable children and needs to be accounted for BUT

• in many cases these are children where the impact won't be instantly measureable
• the system hasn't been in place very long compared with previous Special Needs type funding so needs time to get bedded in
• I'd like to see guidelines for spending clarified. For example, could it just be used to reduce class size although that might be difficult to account for success?

Be aware that not all posters will be familiar with such abbreviations.

True, but I would assume that a carer responsible for a Looked After Child asking questions about how a Pupil Premium Grant was used had a pretty good inkling.

maman

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

True, but I would assume that a carer responsible for a Looked After Child asking questions about how a Pupil Premium Grant was used had a pretty good inkling.

Of course, I meant the wider audience of posters.:)


Seems a shame that the thread has so few takers when 'taking children out of school for exotic but educational all inclusive holidays' type threads are red hot!

adea

At the primary school my daughters' attended, PP was used for a reduction in costs on school trips it seemed mainly.
At the secondary school, they use it to reduce costs of trips, part pay for anything that is purchased for school use - stationery, clothing etc.- and also they will pay for extra curricular activities. For example, my eldest daughter has started playing cricket through a satellite cricket club run by the school and the organisation Chance to Shine. From there has gone on to play for her local club and the school have paid for the membership fees and funded the purchase of equipment for her.
Pupil Premium funding has enabled my daughter to participate in a sport that she would not have been able to have done otherwise.

Lunar_Eclipse

maman wrote: »

Of course, I meant the wider audience of posters.:)


Seems a shame that the thread has so few takers when 'taking children out of school for exotic but educational all inclusive holidays' type threads are red hot!

It might be because of the click through required.

I'm generally interested in education and despite two school aged children, I have no idea what the Pupil Premium is, and don't feel like clicking through to a Parliamentary video to find out.

UKParliament

Hi MSEs

Sadly Parliament TV is not able to be embedded in this page so we have to include it only as a link.

I can let you know more detail on the scope of the inquiry though as set out by the Public Accounts Committee.

Scope of the inquiry
The Department for Education aims to improve the quality of education for all. It also aims to raise disadvantaged pupils’ attainment and reduce the gap between them and others. In 2011, the Department announced new funding for schools, the Pupil Premium, which specifically aims to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children.

Worth £2.5 billion in 2014-15, the Pupil Premium is distributed to schools by the Department according to their number of disadvantaged pupils between the ages of 5 and 16. The Department expects schools to use the funding to support disadvantaged pupils to achieve more but schools can decide how to spend it. The attainment gap between disadvantaged and other pupils narrowed by 4.7 percentage points in primary schools and 1.6 percentage points in secondary schools between 2011 and 2014, but no clear trend has been established and the gap remains wide.

The National Audit Office report raised concerns regarding the identification of disadvantaged pupils, particularly with the introduction of Universal Infant Free School Meals and Universal Credit. Ofsted has expressed concern about provision for disadvantaged pupils in 8% of primary schools and 21% of secondary schools it inspected between September and December 2014. There are particular risks around some of the approaches schools most commonly use. The NAO estimates that schools have spent an extra £430 million on teaching assistants since the introduction of the Pupil Premium; a high-cost approach, while other low-cost interventions are used too infrequently, with just 25% using peer-to-peer learning. This inquiry examines the current accountability and intervention mechanisms and how the pupil premium is improving disadvantaged pupils’ attainment and achieving other impacts.

maman

Thank you for the explanation of the background to the enquiry.


Unfortunately 'disadvantaged children' covers a massive spectrum of different needs so there is no one size fits all answer to how to use Pupil Premium.


I'm hopeful that the inquiry will look at WHY schools choose to spend so much on ' the high-cost approach' of employing Teaching Assistants.