The Service Premium

What is the Service Pupil Premium?

The Department for Education (DfE) introduced the Service Pupil Premium (SPP) in April 2011 in recognition of the specific challenges children from service families face and as part of the commitment to delivering the Armed Forces covenant.

State schools, academies and free schools in England, which have children of service families in school years reception to year 11, can receive the SPP funding. It is designed to assist the school in providing the additional support that these children may need and is currently worth £310 per service child who meets the eligibility criteria. Eligibility criteria Pupils attract 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 since 2016, see note on the DfE’s ever 6 service child measure

• One of their parents died whilst serving in the Armed Forces and the pupil receives a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or the War Pensions Scheme

• Children have to be flagged as service children ahead of the autumn school census deadline.

Service parents need to make the school aware of their status by filling in the annual pupil contact form.

The purpose of the Service Pupil Premium Eligible schools receive the SPP so that they can offer mainly pastoral support during challenging times and to help mitigate the negative impact on service children of family mobility or parental deployment.

Mobility is when a service family is posted from one location to another, including overseas and within the UK. Deployment is when a service person is serving away from home for a period of time. This could be a 6 to 9-month tour of duty, a training course or an exercise which could last for a few weeks.

School Approaches to the spending of the Service Premium:

• Children eligible for the Service Premium are prioritised for focused attendance support to ensure they are able to access regular education

• Monitoring of service pupils’ progress compared to the wider school population to ensure that they learn, develop and achieve well

• Monitoring of the well-being of pupils and actions put in place to support pupils where needed, including support from the Class Teacher, Teaching Support Staff and Pastoral team

• On-going pastoral support for identified pupils, individualised to meet pupil needs, including: Pastoral 1-1 sessions; Focused Pastoral support; Listening Ear box; Therapeutic play; PAT Dog; & ELSA.

• Links to Early Help support and signposting of support services where appropriate

• ‘Forces group’ meetings with the pastoral care team. At the Infant school, this includes the opportunity to play alongside other Service pupils with specially purchased toys and equipment within the children’s year group, alongside the pastoral care lead. At the Junior school, this involves: regular group discussion and activities to encourage the children to share their feelings with each other in a safe environment. This also involves playing games and using resources specifically targeted for our Service children around issues of deployment and mobility.

• Opportunities through the Pastoral Team to learn and explore outdoors with the ‘Forces group’ to help develop children’s self-esteem and confidence, including use of the garden, beach and Hamworthy Park.

• Where additional support is needed for children and their families, support is provided for them on an individual basis, in liaison with Parents, the Teacher, SLT and the Pastoral Team.

• An end of year Forces Fun Day is organised by the Pastoral Team for the Service children to enjoy together. This usually involves inflatables on the school field or a visit to the local beach.

All our service families may feel their children need differing levels of support at different times in their life. Please ensure you speak to your child's class teacher if you have any worries or concerns which the school may be able to help with. 

For more information, please visit our Service Groups page by clicking here.