Free School Meals

Children may be entitled to receive free school meals if their parents receive certain support payments. Currently post-16 pupils are only eligible for free meals if they attend a sixth form that is part of a school.

From September 2014, all children in reception, year 1 and year 2 in state-funded schools in England are eligible for free school meals. Free meals have been extended to disadvantaged students in further education and sixth-form colleges to mirror entitlement in school sixth forms.

Telford & Wrekin Council has access to an eligibility checking service that can find out who is eligible for free school meals.

The amount a school receives in each financial year depends on how many eligible pupils are registered on the day of the school census. It will not be affected by the introduction of free school meals for all infant school children.

Schools can help encourage registration by reminding parents that:

  • registering is confidential
  • taking up the meal is recommended but is not compulsory
  • cashless payment systems for school food can be introduced to reduce the perceived stigma associated with free school meals
  • a child may receive additional help as a result of being registered, for example help with the cost of music lessons or school trips
  • registering a child for free school meals will bring more money to their school

To find out more about increasing take-up of free school meals, see the Children’s Food Trust Free School Meals Guide available as part of their Free School Meals Matter toolkit.

Primary Schools receive a pupil premium of £953 for every child registered for FSM. Last year, 4380 primary school kids were eligible. That’s a possible pupil premium of £4,170,000 flowing into our local primary schools.

The table below shows the current take up rates for Free School Meals in Telford’s Primary Schools.

Please encourage eligible parents to apply for Free School Meals here.

View the data set in full screen