Free School Meals
- far more than just help with lunches
An article by one of our current parents
When my first child was offered their place at CGS we had to think very carefully about whether we should accept it. Would their sibling be able to join them in a few years? Would the long travel be too tiring? Would they handle the speed of learning?
Would we be the only family claiming Free School Meals?
The answer to the last question is: I don’t know! If you are worried about the impact on your child or family of claiming FSM, I can say that it will only be positive and I still have no idea how many FSM families there are at CGS – that’s how well they handle it.
It never really occurred to me to apply for FSM. Our primary school headteacher asked us to apply as it would help with the school funding, they encouraged everyone to check if they were eligible and we felt we were doing it more for the school than for our child at the time.
Now that we are at CGS, I am so grateful for that push; the funding helps us in so many ways, and not only during school time, as I’ll explain further on. First, let’s explain how FSM works on a practical level:
Daily, your child will receive a credit on their school lunch account (currently £2.85).
That balance is used to pay for lunches bought in school in the same way that every other child’s food account is used. It is prudent to add a small amount on their Parentpay school meals account as needed, in case they buy items that total more than this daily allowance. If they don’t spend the full £2.85, then the remains of that allowance will be removed at the end of the school day. A fresh £2.85 credit is then applied the following day. You can track this on their Parentpay account by looking up ‘balance history’ under ‘transaction history’ for each child, but no-one else sees any difference from the way any other child uses their account.
However, not everyone may be aware that if you are eligible for FSM provision, it opens up further funding, known as Pupil Premium (or the 16-19 Bursary for sixth form).
Pupil Premium is effectively a fixed pot of funding set aside for each FSM child, that school administers for you. The most significant cost it can be used for is transport. We were permitted to claim half of the bus costs each year from this funding. We have also benefitted from the cover of costs related to school laptop provision. Helpfully, it can be used for other expenses such as uniform (incl PE kit), equipment (calculators, text books, art packs etc), most excursions and trips (not purely ‘fun’ trips such as skiing), expenses associated with DofE or Ten Tors activities, and even the odd item I would think of as a ‘perk’, such as Christmas lunches, signed books from visiting authors, a leavers’ yearbook…
School ask that you check with them before buying anything you hope will be covered by Pupil Premium, but once you have done that it is just a case of contacting the finance office and asking them to either arrange for the internal school order to be made from your child’s PP account (for things like books, trips, equipment ordered through school), or providing receipts for items you wish to be reimbursed for.
You can ask the finance office at any time how much is left in your child’s PP account and whether an expense will be eligible before you commit to any spending or respond to a school request. Again, whatever the expense is, the item will be given to your child at the same time and in the same way as it is given to every other child in the group; no-one need know it has been covered by funding.
Outside school, the advantages continue.
During school holidays, the government is currently providing £15 per child per week to spend on groceries. This is distributed through school in the form of a code that you use online to obtain gift cards for the major food retailer(s) of your choice. They are valid for several months.
There are also schemes such as the HAF programme (Holidays, Activities and Food: Devon HAF Programme), which provides free activity places in the holidays including lunch. Excellent for younger students in particular who may need holiday supervision if parents are at work, or for those who enjoy their sports and other hobbies.
Various other educational organisations offer reduced rates or fully-covered expenses to Pupil Premium families. This might be the ability to reclaim travel expenses (or part of) for university open days, completely funded residential university taster courses, or residential weeks with the National Citizen Service to name a few. I am sure there are many more that simply haven’t landed on our radar!
So, if you are in any doubt as to whether you are eligible for Free School Meals, I urge you to apply. This is apparently now best done through the Devon CC Citizen Portal, or you can call the Education Helpline on 0345 155 1019 to ask about your claim status. You can ask the PA to put you in touch with me if you have any questions about being a low-income family at CGS (though not about the actual application process, as we applied a long time ago!) – just send an email to enquiries@colytongrammarschoolpa.org.uk.
There are all sorts of families at CGS and we have had nothing but positivity from our FSM contributions. Don’t miss out if you are able to enhance your experience too.
