Is your child eligible for free school meals?

If your child is eligible for free school meals, and you claim for them, your child’s academy receives extra funding called ‘pupil premium’.

Pupil premium is funding from the government that is given to academies to help students to reach their full potential, regardless of their background or financial situation. Academies receive £1,385 for primary students and £985 for secondary students who are registered for free school meals. The funding has to be used by the academy to enhance the individual learning of the qualifying student, and can be used in many ways including:

• Extra one-to-one or small group support within classrooms
• Employing extra teaching assistants to work within classes
• Running catch up sessions for those who need extra help
• Providing breakfast to improve attendance
• Providing extra tuition
• Providing music enrichment for families who cannot pay for them
• Funding educational visits
• Investing in resources that boost learning i.e. laptops or tablets

Students who are registered for free school meals do not have to eat them and cannot be identified as being registered for free school meals in anyway within the academy. However, the academy cannot claim the extra funding unless the student is registered.

Your child is eligible for free school meals, and therefore pupil premium funding for the academy if you access:

• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance
• Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• The guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided 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
• Universal Credit, provided you have an annual net earned income not exceeding £7,400 (£616.67 per month)

Register your child for free school meals using the application form below, to ensure the academy receives the relevant funding it is entitled to. Academy staff are happy to support with any applications. Applications must be made as soon as possible, and ideally by 23 September 2022.

Newcastle Council Free School Meals Application