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by Helen Bonnick

Thousands of children will finally be getting the extra support they need to succeed" was the bold declaration of Sarah Teather, children's minister, when the details of the Pupil Premium were announced in July 2010.

The aim is to close the performance gap between children from rich and poor families and this should be done in a "fair" manner. The coalition government has also claimed the premium will make funding simpler, encourage schools in affluent areas to take disadvantaged pupils and support "free schools" in poorer areas.























(picture: Rex Features, model released)

Originally trumpeted as extra money, the scheme replaces a system which was complex, but was considered relatively redistributive. But now, with no new money in the cash tin, we need to have a simpler and more transparent scheme which is extraordinarily redistributive. The Labour party has suggested that up to two-thirds of schools will lose out under this change.

So now schools contemplate redundancies as the money moves essentially to the capital and the north - the two areas with the highest proportion of children on free school meals. The immediate effect has been that head teachers have been calling for all eligible parents to register for free school meals.  

Evidence to support the sweeping claims made for the premium is mixed. The amount for each pupil, £430 in the first year, seems small beer, though of course we may be looking at hundreds or even thousands of times this in a large school. It could permit increased resources, and projects such as Excellence in Cities have demonstrated marked successes in closing the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils in this way.

We are quickly seeing that under this coalition government there are clear winners and losers. The Pupil Premium reflects this. Personally, I shall be looking for a grant to research the effect of improved nutrition on narrowing the gap, from all the extra free school meals.

Helen Bonnick is a school-based social worker

by Helen Bonnick, a social worker and formerly a supervisor of school-home support workers

The issue of when children are old enough to travel to and from school alone was thrown into sharp relief again at the beginning of July, when parents of an eight and five year old were allegedly "threatened with social services" for letting them cycle unaccompanied less than a mile to school. In truth the issue is never far from the surface if you work in this field.

Practice varies tremendously from school to school, even within the same local authority; surely in part due to the fact that we fail to reach any sensible conclusion any time the matter is debated. I worked in a primary school drawing up a policy and we searched around desperately for guidance on the matter - perhaps we were desperate to pass the buck.

In the end we found a leaflet from a different London borough suggesting under-sevens should always be accompanied, and that seemed to make sense. But accompanied by whom? One primary school will allow year six children to collect children aged seven and over, another down the road allows secondary age siblings to escort a younger child, and a third will insist on adults for everyone.