And now, Sam I read in the TES yesterday that the cutoff date when Pupil Premium is calculated in schools has been changed meaning that a whole cohort of children cannot be included. Pupil Premium is a major source of income per pupil for a school, particularly in socially deprived areas. It is spent, as you know, on improving support for its children, things like tutoring, remedial classes, subsidy of trips and extra-curricula things (OFSTED sees this as important for the development of the whole child).As you will know, schools have to manage their own budgets and it is all a carefully calculated balance. They can do without the government fiddling about and moving the goalposts constantly. After all, school decisions have to be long term, decisions such as employing a new staff member to work with special needs, or setting up a long-desired school library and staffing it with a school librarian. (My hours were sometimes paid for partly from Pupil Premium, and I worked a lot with children who lived in overcrowded conditions and had no books at home. With guided opportunities to choose books their reading and academic lives improved. One of my pupils from the East End, previously a reluctant reader, started writing beautiful poetry and became one my keenest library helpers.) Lack of continuity is very damaging to children, emotionally and academically. The socially deprived have been particularly held back by the pandemic, as we all know, and the government is paying lip-service to remedial action.
Lucy Chambers ● 1970d