Free School Meals

All primary pupils of parents receiving certain benefits are entitled to this extra funding. It aims to help pupils from low income families get the best start in life. The money – around £1320 per child – goes directly to the school. It pays for things like school trips, breakfast clubs, or additional teachers and assistants to provide extra support and 1 to 1 tutoring. Your child’s school reports on how they spend the money on its website.

Since 2014 all children attending school in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, have been entitled to free school meals. However, not all parents and carers of eligible children know that they still need to sign up for the Pupil Premium. If they don’t, the school loses out on getting this really important source of income.

Is your child eligible for Pupil Premium?

In order for the school to receive the Pupil Premium funding, a parent/carer must be claiming one of the following benefits:

Income Support

Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance

Income-related Employment and Support Allowance

Support under Part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

The guaranteed element of State Pension Credit

Child Tax Credit (as long as you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)

Working Tax Credit run-on (paid for four weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit) Universal Credit.

Next steps:

Once you’ve contacted us and filled in the form, we can check whether your child is eligible, via the Department of Education. We are not given any other information about you or your child. You will receive a letter from us with the result of your application.

If your child is eligible for the funding, we will look after everything and be in touch with you with further information.

If your child was not eligible this time round, please apply again in future. Changes in your circumstances may mean that your application could be successful next time.

There is more information on the Bristol City Council website:

https://www.bristol.gov.uk/schools-learning-early-years/free-school-meals

You can apply for free school meals or pupil premium funding here.

https://efsm.bristol.gov.uk/pls/educa/f?p=106:101:

If your child is entitled to Free School Meals then their entitlement will continue, but you will need to apply for this if you haven’t done so already. If you think you may be entitled to a free school meal for your child, whatever their age, do visit the application website at http://efsm.bristol.gov.uk, you just need an email address and your National insurance number and will be informed straight away if you are eligible. A paper based version is available at the office, but it is much easier online as you don’t need to provide lots of evidence. If you are at all unsure about next steps, please call the main office for some guidance. We would encourage you to apply for Free school Meals if you think you may be eligible (even if your child is receiving the Universal Free meals in Year R, Y1 or Y2), as the government funds schools on the number of children who receive free school meals. If eligible families don’t apply it means the school does not receive tens of thousands of pounds which could have been used to fund an extra teacher, to reduce the cost of school activities and trips, for additional teaching assistants, to provide additional support for children who have fallen behind, free breakfast club places… the list goes on. Please apply, even if your child doesn’t want to eat a school lunch the form is available from the school office. The money makes a really important difference to schools and the eligible pupils! Thank you!