St John's Church of EnglandPrimary School

Pupil Premium and Free School Meals

Pupil Premium is a payment the government makes to schools for every child entitled to targeted free school meals.

What is pupil premium funding?

This funding supports children who may be disadvantaged to reach their full potential. Schools can decide the best way to spend this funding. They will look at how to improve educational outcomes for pupils. This could be from targeted academic support, or wider strategies to support children.

Being eligible for targeted free school meals also means your child could access additional support, such as free holiday activities and food (HAF) programme.

It’s provided for pupils who:

• Are registered for Targeted Free School Meals
• Have parents in the armed forces
• Are, or have been, in care. This includes pupils that have left local authority care for one of these reasons:

1. adoption
2. special guardianship order
3. child arrangements order
4. residence order

At St John’s school, this extra money could make a real difference to the quality of education we offer.

For example, we’ve previously used pupil premium funding for:

• Educational provision/resources
• Academic interventions
• Wellbeing and self-esteem building interventions
• Financial support for residential trips
• Financial support for swimming lessons
• Uniform grants
• The Shakespeare experience

Is my child eligible for free school meals?

Your child might be eligible if you access:

• Universal Credit and earn less than £7,400 per year
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• the guarantee element of Pension Credit
• households with families with no recourse to public funds (NRPF)
• Expanded free school meals are for families receiving Universal Credit with earnings over £7,400 per year. They cover free school meals only.

Other types of Pupil Premium

For 3 to 4 year olds

Click here to find out more about Early years pupil premium funding.

Universal infant free school meals

Currently, pupils in reception, year 1 and year 2 are entitled to a free school meal thanks to a different government funding scheme known as universal infant free school meals (UIFSM). You shouldn’t confuse UIFSM with free schools meals and the pupil premium.
If your child is in reception, year 1 or year 2 and is eligible for free school meals according to the criteria above, you should still register because we’ll receive the extra pupil premium funding.

Further information about Pupil Premium can be found via the link below