First Federation Trust
Free Financial Support for Our School...how you can help!
Your child may be eligible to have free school meals throughout their time at school.
It is vital that all families who are eligible for free school meals, even those who do not wish to take up the free school meals for lunch, apply for additional school funding. Applications to the Free School Meal scheme result in Pupil Premium funding being released to the school, which can be used to support children's learning in a number of ways:
You can check to see if you are eligible for free school meals via this website, and you can make an application: https://apply.cloudforedu.org.uk
Free School Meals (FSM)
Free school meals are available to children of all ages. To qualify for this, you need to make an application showing that you meet one or more of the following requirements:
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Income Support
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Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
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Income Related Employment & Support Allowance
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Support under Part VI of the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999
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The Guarantee element of State Pension Credit
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Child Tax Credit (without Working Tax Credit)
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Working Tax Credit Run On
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A parent who is a serving member of the armed forces.
Whether a child is in primary or secondary school, if they meet the requirements they will receive the following:
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A daily free school meal
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Additional Pupil Premium funding
Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM)
Until September 2014, the only children eligible to receive a free school meal were those who fell into the FSM category above.
Now the government has introduced Universal Infant Free School Meals, which entitles every child in Key Stage 1 (Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2) to receive a free lunch. This benefit is not means tested.
It does not bring with it an entitlement to Pupil Premium funding.
What is the Pupil Premium funding?
The pupil premium is additional funding for publicly funded schools in England, designed to:
raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils;
close the gap between them and their peers.
It is available to a range of pupils:
those eligible for FSM
those who are no longer eligible for FSM, but who have been eligible in the last 6 years
those who are adopted
those with a special guardianship order
those with a child arrangements order
those with a residence order
We use a three year Pupil Premium strategy, as recommended by the Department for Education, which is reviewed annually.
The documents below explain how the funding is used and its impact on an annual basis.