Compulsory Education
On this page:
08 Mar - Boarding schools - read the small print
School Funding
Service Children Support Network
Ofsted Recognise the Need for Family Time During R&R
Service Children Mobility Project – Transition and Induction
A new school in Woolwich providing spaces for Military families!
SCE Deployment Resources Site
Diplomas for 14 to 19 year olds
Education - The Experience of Service Children
House of Commons Defence Committee - Educating Service Children
Differences between Education Systems
Boarding schools - read the small print
Message from Lucy Scott, AFF's Education & Childcare Specialist: Choosing schools can be a complicated business. If you have decided that mobility is an issue for your child with regard to continuity of their education then you may be considering a boarding school.
There are a wide variety of schools offering different things to suit your child and your circumstances. There are also various discounts on offer. Please be aware however of the SMALL print. Some schools may ask you to sign up for a number of terms in advance. Nine terms for example doesn’t sound much but three years is a long time in the child’s educational life. If your child becomes unhappy or your circumstances change significantly and you sign up for a certain number of terms in advance, you may be liable for the outstanding fees in many cases, even if you have permission to withdraw your child from the CEA Governance Team.
If you have any further questions on this, please contact me either by email at ec@aff.org.uk or by phone on 07527 492869.
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School Funding
From the academic year 2006-7 the way that schools are funded has changed. School funding operates on two levels: government and local authority.
Government Level
The Government now distributes a Dedicated School Grant (DSG) to Local Authorities (LAs). This is a ring-fenced grant for schools from the DfES and was first set out in the Five-Year Strategy for Children and Learners published in 2004.
The Government wishes schools to operate on a multi-year budget setting basis. 2006-07 and 2007-08 will be used to ensure that changes to the system are well embedded within local authorities and schools, and to allow them to evaluate the effectiveness of the new arrangements. A full three year budget cycle will begin in 2008-09. When considering which factors to use in the formula for calculating DSG, mobility was examined, with the following conclusions:
‘We have explored the impact of mobility on attainment and looked at whether it is possible to produce a consistent, robust definition of mobility. Our conclusion is that mobility is an important issue, having a significant detrimental impact on attainment for both deprived and non-deprived pupils, particularly in respect of secondary pupils, where moving in the GCSE years can be very damaging. However, defining ‘real’ mobility is very difficult, particularly in the primary sector where pupils join schools at different scheduled times and different definitions can produce different patterns. Furthermore, the definitions tested suggest that most authorities have reasonably similar mobility rates, and there is no significant consistent disadvantage for any particular type of authority. We therefore conclude it is not a suitable factor for inclusion in the formula for distributing DSG. However, since the variation in mobility at school level can be quite marked, mobility is a factor that authorities should continue to take account of in their local formula, where appropriate.’
Local Level
Local Councils set their own School Budgets. This is dedicated pupil-related funding, and consists of two elements:
- Individual Schools Budget (ISB). The ISB is the funding that is distributed to schools in the form of delegated budget shares, and is based partly on the Single Pupil Count (see below).
- Centrally retained schools budget: this is expenditure that is not delegated to schools, and covers spending such as pupil referral units and high-cost (non-LA) SEN provision. LAs must decide how much of the DSG to retain for this.
Each local authority will have a formula by which it calculates the distribution of the ISB. There is a large degree of variation in the operation of local authorities’ formulae, although regulations do exist.
The Single Pupil Count
Under the new arrangements, all local authorities are required to use the PLASC count taken in the January preceding the start of each financial year as the only pupil count used for the purposes of allocating schools’ budget shares for that financial year. Some authorities have previously used more than one pupil count per year as a means of adjusting school budgets; using a single pupil count will mean that budgets will be fixed at the start of the year and will not be subject to further re-determination, thus providing greater stability.
Each school is set a guaranteed funding level, and if the budget share a school receives from its local formula is less than this guaranteed funding level, it is topped up from a fund called the Minimum Funding Guarantee.
It could of course be argued that the Single Pupil Count does not provide enough flexibility for school budgets to reflect changing circumstances within a school year. In the case of pupil mobility, the following is stated:
'A key task for local authorities under the new system will be to project pupil numbers in order to provide meaningful future budget allocations.' (Source: New School Funding Arrangements from April 2006: DfES).
Pupil Premium and Service Pupil Premium
As of April 2011, in addition to the current funding to schools, the Pupil Premium and the Service Pupil Premium was introduced, both of these funding streams are reliant on the information from the January School Census (PLASC count).
The Pupil Premium provides additional funding to schools to assist in the education of those children that are judged to be deprived, the main indicator for this is the eligibility for free school meals.
The Service Pupil Premium is allocated based on the number of children recorded as Service children in the census, therefore it is critical that army families inform the schools where their children attend that they are from Service families. The school will be given an additional £250 for every child that is recorded as from a Service family, the purpose of which is to assist in covering the administration costs of mobile families and to meet the needs of Service children educationally and emotionally, especially at times of deployment, as the school sees fit. This funding is not currently ring-fenced and the schools are responsible for ensuring that the money is spent appropriately.
Please note that this is only for state schools in England as the funds are allocated by the Department for Education. Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have their own administrations. This premium is also not for independent schools or SCE schools.
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Service Children Support Network
A group of over 100 education and welfare professionals are working collaboratively with members of the Military community to encourage and facilitate the provision of high-quality support to Service Children and their families.
Their aims are to promote wider understanding of the specific needs of Service Children and their families and to offer effective support and advice to professionals who work with Service Children and their families.
For more information visit the Service Children Support Network website at www.servicechildrensupportnetwork.com.
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Ofsted Recognise the Need for Family Time During R&R
Many schools are already aware of the importance of families being together during periods of R&R and now Ofsted also acknowledge this fact, stating that ‘Our inspectors understand and are sensitive to this issue’. What does this mean? Well it means that if a school is being inspected by Ofsted, both in England and in SCE schools, and there are a number of absences from Service family children who have returning soldiers on R&R then they will take this into account. The absences will be noted as authorised and not included in the overall assessment of attendance for the school. Consequently, it will not be to the schools detriment to allow Service children holidays during term time when their serving parent is back for this precious period of time.
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Service Children Mobility Project – Transition and Induction
Like many other Service spouses and mothers, Joy O’Neill is aware of the problems families face as a result of being constantly ‘on the move’ and the pressures and anxieties that arise when a parent is deployed on operations. As an Early Years teacher, a member of the Service Children in State Schools (SCISS) National Executive, founder of the Bucks/Oxon SCISS and Chair of Governors at a school where the pupil roll consists of 75% Service children, Joy has a wider perspective too.
Joy believes that the specific needs of Service children are often overlooked because of a lack of professional knowledge and understanding. In 2008 she under took research, based on the question ‘What would an effective Transition and Induction policy look like in relation to Service Children at Halton School?’ Pupils, parents, staff and governors discussed the issues that arise from ‘Transition and Parental Deployment’ and in response to these results, Joy designed a ‘Mobility Project’ to support the needs of Service children as they joined or left the school and, in particular, during periods of parental deployment overseas.
The project included establishing the post of Mobility Co-ordinator to work with children and families both at Halton School and within the local area in an outreach capacity. To access the full project, click here.
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A new school in Woolwich providing spaces for Military families!
Plans are in place to open a Free School in Woolwich under the Governments new initiative, focussing on providing a better school for families in the area. Shooters Hill Primary School of Arts (SHPSA) will aim to best meet the needs of Military families as well as civilian families with a strong focus on following the Every Child Matters principles. The school will be unique with smaller class sizes and a strong focus on the Arts and French. Click here to read more.
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SCE Deployment Resources Site
SCE now has a deployment resources site: www.sceschools.com/deployment/index.php. This is aimed primarily at SCE schools or schools with service children who are experiencing the effects of deployment. If your school is looking for guidance, then direct them to www.sceschools.com
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Diplomas for 14 to 19 year olds
Diplomas are courses designed to run alongside GCSEs and A Levels. They will include generic learning including English, maths and IT as well as learning more specific to the type of diploma chosen. They are intended to open up career paths and choices rather than narrow them; they are employment-related learning, not job-related training. Find out more at www.direct.gov.uk
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Education - The Experience of Service Children
We all take our children’s education seriously, but what sets the experience of a Service child aside from that of his or her civilian friends?
- Another posting equals another new school. Service children can attend upwards of five different schools up to the age of sixteen, and past research has suggested that each move can put a child back six months. Children also have to cope with leaving friends behind and making new ones with each move.
- Service children can move between England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, SCE schools…even local schools overseas. Each area has its own system, meaning adjusting to changes in curriculum, ethos and sometimes even year group.
- It is not always easy for parents to choose a school for their child, or to get their child into the school of their choice if it is popular and oversubscribed. Admissions worries and appeals are an ongoing part of Service life.
- Service children are proportionally more likely to have Special Educational Needs and to require extra help in school. This is often the result of ‘gaps’ in their learning caused by moving schools. It is important that the time and resources spent waiting for and undergoing assessments in one school are carried over effectively when the child moves.
On the other hand…
- Service children are often more adaptable and flexible than their civilian friends, having grown used to change and the broader view of the world that this has given them
- Educational experiences extend beyond the classroom and children from Army families can benefit from living overseas or in other parts of the UK.
- Heads and teachers often speak positively of the contribution our children make to their school communities.
- There is plenty of help out there, and the situation is improving all the time. AFF is always ready to help with your education queries, and if we don’t know the answer, we will do our best to find out.
House of Commons Defence Committee - Educating Service Children
The House of Commons Defence Committee called on Government to urgently address the problems in communication between agencies that make transition for children in UK forces schools much more difficult. In their report on the Education of Service Children, published 6 September 2006, the MPs say that they take it as “self-evident” that the children of Service personnel should receive at least the same quality of schooling and educational opportunity as any child in the UK. Education is of course of paramount importance for parents in the Services and the Committee heard that concerns about education could impact on retention of forces personnel and operational effectiveness. Frequent moves are a feature of service life, and children’s personal well-being as well as educational attainment can suffer as a result. Download a pdf copy of the report.
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Differences between Education Systems
Click here for a table showing comparative school years for children within the different state education systems of the Devolved Governments.
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