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Service Children
Approximately 25% the children at New Park come from a service family – something which we feel makes our school a very special place. Our staff team are very experienced at helping families who are transferring to the area, often at short notice. Please do not hesitate to contact us at the earliest opportunity so that we can do our very best to ensure a smooth transition for your child.
Most children settle into life at New Park Primary Academy very quickly and take it in their stride and make friends easily. All new children are assigned a class buddy when they start to help them settle in.
We know that transition can be difficult for every member of the family. There are a variety of ways in which we support our service families for example our parents’ coffee mornings held at the Community Centre at the Army Foundation College each half term with Mrs Lee (Family Support Worker) and Miss Horton (SENDCo).
As an inclusive school, we ensure that the teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all our pupils, whatever their background. However, we recognise that children from service families are potentially vulnerable and may need additional provision to support their lifestyles. By being a small school, we pride ourselves on knowing our children and families well and therefore having the capacity to support the children through any challenging times. We do ask parents to keep us informed, where possible, of upcoming deployments so we can ensure that we are able to provide the support where appropriate.
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.
What is 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.
