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Post by chotimonkey on Nov 20, 2015 13:16:49 GMT
Have confirmed with dd's sch that it has already been applied for on her name... Does anyone have any advice about how we go about getting the school to use it for what we would like? Classroom teacher is lovely, but doesn't know how it's decided what it's used for... I thought there was supposed to be some discussion between school and home esp as dd has only been at sch for one half term and I don't think they know her well enough to decide what is on her best interests yet.
Thanks
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Post by milly on Nov 20, 2015 17:32:35 GMT
There's no obligation for schools to discuss this with parents although many have. My dd's did. Pupil premium for children on free school meals has been around for a while. As we have quite a number at our school we don't consult over its use with parents;however far fewer children are adopted and it's fairly new so schools do often talk to parents.
The thing is its is not officially allocated to be used for each child - merely for tbe adoptees as a group. Obviously if there are only one or two children,staff will naturally have to consider the needs of each child and use it for them. The school does have to account for how they use the funds.
My dd didn't really have any needs that required funding but other parents wanted some play therapy or similar. We didn't want our dd involved in that so I'm not sure she actually gets any direct benefit. Haven't heard anything for a long while! (They support her in other ways so I'm not that bothered although come to think of it perhaps her PPP partly pays for a new member of staff they have - a sort of mentoring role.)
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Post by milly on Nov 20, 2015 17:34:52 GMT
PS talk to the head. The class teacher wouldn't be responsible for deciding this although may, of course, have some ideas.
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Post by gilreth on Nov 21, 2015 14:28:10 GMT
I must check Sqk's has been applied for - I would assume it has as they got his EYPP last year. Issue with PPP is it is not ringfenced as such - a school has to be able to show to Ofsted that it has been used to support the pupils it applies to but they do not need to consult parents at all. In our case there are 2 adopted kids and 2 foster children in the school (I think - know adopted is right as the other is my nephew).
DH & I were discussing this earlier - the only area Sqk needs support academically is his writing (everything else he is pretty much ahead of where he should be) and otherwise it is his social/emotional skills which have come on by leaps and bounds since starting school. The gap between him and the other summer-born children in his class is considerably less than it was - he is almost in line with them now whereas he started school obviously much younger in attitude. So there isn't a great deal to support Sqk with in particular (teacher went to attachment training run due to new foster child being in school and has access to the materials the SENCO has built up since my nephew started). But we are happy for the money to go to support the other children who qualify for it given we know in one case how much is needed. Which is what will be said if we are asked.... Which we could b e by either SENCO (who is assistant head) or the head.
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Post by corkwing on Nov 23, 2015 11:28:05 GMT
Hi, Choti -
Firstly I'd recommend that you check up on what the aims are for PPP. It's supposed to be used to enable the child to make more academic progress than would be expected. So if the child's peers progressed by, say, 3 sub-levels in a given time, the idea is that PPP should enable the child to progress by 4 or more levels.
It's not necessarily areas where the child is lagging. If the child is a genius then the PPP would be expected to enable them to progress even faster than they do already.
That may sound bonkers, but the idea is that children with disadvantageous backgrounds will have lost out, so PPP is supposed to make up for that. So a genius child who has gone through the trauma of neglect, loss of family, etc. would have probably been a super-genius had they had a standard upbringing. Hence the idea of PPP is to help them to get to where they would have been.
The key to this is that it's supposed to be about ACADEMIC progress. That's the goal. So it could be something like additional support in literacy. But it could also be used for interventions to support the child's emotional state so that they are better able to learn. It's NOT designed to give them richer life experiences - things like music lessons - or to pay for school trips.
The money isn't ring-fenced. So if they decided that it would be a good idea to buy in some specific books or a reading scheme, other children could use those resources. If they fund (or part fund) a teaching assistant, the TA could also help other children in the class. Those other children wouldn't even have to come with PPP.
Hope that's helpful!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2015 22:53:07 GMT
Hi cork wig
Do you have a link to official documents giving guidance about the PP+. Up to now we have had extra curricular activites for as they have improved the LOS confidence and self esteem which has a knock on effect to their learning. At least that has Ben the argument! !
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Post by corkwing on Nov 25, 2015 8:34:47 GMT
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