8. Service Pupil Premium good practice examples
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Service Pupil Premium good practice examples
The Army Families Federation has put together a list of ways schools have used the Service Pupil Premium to support their children. Schools should consider these at their own discretion based on the needs of their individual children:
- Learning Support Assistant dedicated to the emotional wellbeing and academic achievement of Service children
- Computer equipment for Skype chat time
- Half-termly social events for parents and children
- Website page for Service families
- Themed visits and outings
- Moving-schools support including ‘My passport’
- After school clubs
- Camera equipment for photographs
- Welcome films made by pupils
- Deployment display boards
- Memory boxes for children moving on
- Homework support groups
- Around the world assembly
- Service children’s base within school, with a bank of computers for scanning school work to email parents who are away and keep them in touch
Reading Force
Provides books and scrap books to children when their parent has been deployed.
The Ministry of Defence
Has published a Best Practice Guide for ways to spend the Service Pupil Premium
Service Pupil Premium: what you need to know
The guidance states: In order to support the pastoral needs of Service children, schools have flexibility over how they use the SPP, as they are best placed to understand and respond to the specific needs of those pupils for whom the funding has been allocated. The funding could be spent on providing a variety of means of support including counselling provision, nurture groups etc.
Schools might also consider how to improve the level of and means of communication between the child and their deployed parents. Some schools have introduced ‘skype time’ clubs, whilst other schools have helped children to develop scrapbooks and diaries that they can show their parents on their return, highlighting their achievements and day to day school life. In addition, staff hours may be required to support the needs of Service children when they join a new school as a result of a posting or when a parent is deployed, and these hours could be funded by the SPP.
Within schools which experience high levels of Service pupil mobility, Mobility co-ordinators, Forces liaison officers, Parent support advisors etc. have been employed. These posts tend to work closely with the pupils and families when they move into the area or are due to leave. Such staff can also support pupils and families where a parent is deployed.
SPP should not be used to subsidise routine school activity (trips, music lessons etc.). Schools may choose to fund school trips just for Service children, to help them enjoy their time at school and build a sense of a wider community and understanding of the role their service parent plays (e.g. with military specific trips). This is to help them cope with the potential strains of service life.