Pupil Premium and Free School Meals

Free School Meals and Pupil Premium

Free school meals are only available to children in Years 7 to 13. If you have a child in Years 12 or 13, then they should speak to the relevant Head of Progress and Learning about the 16-19 Bursary option.

How do I apply for Free School Meals?

Your child may be eligible for Free School Meals if you get any of the following:

• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• income-related 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 - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

In order to apply for Free School Meals, you will need to complete an online form which can be found via Online FSM Application (cloudforedu.org.uk) and you will need to complete a separate application for each child.

Please note that the decision is not made by the school as to whether you qualify, and therefore any questions related to the application cannot be answered by the school.

My child receives free school meals at their current school, they are moving to Sale Grammar School, do I need to tell you?

If your child attends a school that is using OFSM then the school they attend can go onto the OFSM system and transfer the student’s eligibility to Sale Grammar School. Once they have done this we will receive a notification from the OFSM system and will be able to provide free school meals for your child.

If the school are unable to do this, or, if your child attends a school that does not use OFSM then you will need to click the link at the top of the page to make an application.

What happens once it is confirmed that my child is eligible for free school meals?

• The OFSM system will alert us that your child is eligible and we will update our records.
• The current free school meals allowance is £2.75.
• The sum of £2.75 will be placed into your child’s ParentPay account on a daily basis.
• Your child will present themselves at the till in the School Refectory as any other student would to pay for their food. It is not possible for other students to identify whether anyone else is eligible for Free School Meals.
• Your child does not have to take to a meal each day if they do not want to, however, that provision is available to them.
• As it is possible that your child will spend over their £2.75 free school meal allowance, we strongly advise that you make a payment into your child’s ParentPay account to account for any overspend.
• At the end of each day, if any of the £2.75 free school meal allowance has not been spent the remainder of that allowance will be removed from the ParentPay account, your child is not entitled to carryover any underspend to the following day.

If you have any queries you can contact the school Administration Team by phone on 0161 973 3217 or via email adminteam@salegrammar.co.uk.

What is Pupil Premium Funding?

The pupil premium grant is funding provided to schools to help all pupils reach their full potential regardless of their background or financial situation. Students may be eligible if they:

• are registered as eligible for free school meals
• have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years
• are looked-after children defined in the Children Act 1989 as one who is in the care of, or provided with accommodation by an English local authority
• they have ceased to be looked after by a local authority in England and Wales because of adoption, a special guardianship order, a child arrangement order or a residence order
• they have a parent currently serving in the armed forces

Should your child be eligible for pupil premium and you wish to discuss this with a staff member, then please do email office@salegrammar.co.uk and we will direct your email accordingly.

How is the Pupil Premium Funding Used?

The pupil premium funding is paid directly to the school who decide how the funding should be used to meet a student’s needs. The school has a three-year (2021-2024) pupil premium strategy which is outlined in the documentation below.  You can also find a review of our strategy for 2020-2021 and 2021-2022.

How can I find out about the School’s Holiday Food Support?

In addition to the above, students who are in receipt of Free School Meals have recently been able to receive vouchers from the local authority to support with food costs over the holiday period. The school will send out information in relation to this, as and when we are notified.

We realise that the cost of living has increased, and that this may put additional financial constraints onto our families. We do urge our parents/carers to contact us if they are struggling to provide their child with items that are required for school.

 

For more information on meals at Sale Grammar School, click here