Service Children Premium

The Service Pupil Premium

As part of their Pupil Premium arrangements, the DfE introduced a Service Children's Premium in April 2011. The purpose of the SPP is so that schools can offer pastoral support during challenging times and can mitigate against the negative impact of family mobility, separation or parental deployment on service children.

Eligibility Criteria

Pupils are eligible for the SPP if they meet one of the following criteria:

• one of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces (including pupils with a parent who is on full commitment as part of the full-time reserve service)
• they have been registered as a ‘service child’ on a school census in the past 6 years (see below the ‘DfE’s ever 6 service child measure’)
• one of their parents died while serving in the armed forces and the pupil receives a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or the War Pensions Scheme
• one of their parents is in the armed forces of another nation and is stationed in England

What SPP is used for at QEHS

Facilitating admission arrangements and effective communication

Ensuring continuity of provision if school changes are necessary

Supporting the social and emotional well-being of the children, including counselling

Tracking academic progress and providing mentoring and subject specific support where required

After school supervision which enables independent study and supports families

Other support such as funding taxis to get home after school activities

Specific staff

We employ a Progress Coach and Learning and Progress Assistants in Maths and English. The SPP contributes to funding these three roles as well as being available for more bespoke support. The Progress Coach provide both academic guidance and pastoral support for Services students, as and when required.

In the 2023-2024 Academic year we employed an Intervention Support Officer who raised the profile of Services Students in school and was a key point of contact. We participated in the ‘Festival of Friends’ celebration and used the ‘Thriving Lives’ toolkit to identify areas for development. We focused on the toolkit strand of ‘Children are heard’, specifically ‘Enabling participation in conferences and forums for Service children run by LAs, Armed Forces charities and universities’. Students were taken out of school to events and collaborated on activities in school. They were all seen individually by a mentor who supported them.