Pupil Premium

Free School Meals and Pupil Premium Funding Eligibility Check

Parents and carers who receive certain benefits may be eligible for either Pupil Premium funding or Free School Meals.

Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children receive free school meals at no cost to you.  This is a universal entitlement for all infant aged children.  By applying for free school meals for children in these year groups, parents receiving one of the welfare benefits listed below will be eligible for Pupil Premium funding.  This is extra money for the school, provided by government, to pay for targeted support for learning.

From the start of the 2026 to 2027 academic year, UK government are expanding FSM eligibility to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit regardless of household earnings. Free school meals are available to pupils in receipt of, or whose parents are in receipt of, one or more of the following benefits:

  • Universal Credit
  • support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

A pupil is only eligible to receive a free school meal where both:

  • a claim for this support has been made
  • their eligibility has been verified by the school where they are enrolled or by the local authority

Households may also be entitled to a meal if they:

There are now 2 categories of benefits-based free school meals:

  • Targeted FSM, which continues to be based on the existing threshold, covering pupils in households in receipt of Universal Credit with annual household earnings of £7,400 or less. pupils under Targeted FSM are also eligible Holiday Activities and Food programme (HAF),  pupil premium and the ‘extended rights’ element of school travel assistance.
  • Expanded FSM, a new category covering pupils who do not qualify for targeted FSM, but who are in households receiving Universal Credit with annual household earnings exceeding £7,400 will be entitled to expanded FSM. Pupils under Expanded FSM are entitled to meals only.

Ever 6 FSM Cohort

Pupils who are, or have been, eligible for FSM over the last 6 years are part of the ‘Ever 6’ FSM cohort. This is used for disadvantage funding and accountability purposes. Following the expansion of FSM, Ever 6 FSM will be based on targeted FSM.

Parents can check if their child qualifies Free School Meals and Pupil Premium through "Online Free School Meals". You can register to find out if your child is eligible by following the link below.

The system is quick and simple to use and can be accessed via a home computer, smartphone or hand held device. It is easy to register all you need is your national insurance number, which you can enter at the website.

Online Free School Meals

Please email us at the school office if you have any problems registering.

The Pupil Premium is a grant that is given to the school to support children who are in low-income families and who may need additional support to achieve their best in school.  Any parent who registers their child for Free School Meals automatically triggers additional grant to the school.  For this reason we ask all parents to register - even if they do not want the free meal.  Children who qualify for Pupil premium then have reduced costs for school clubs, music lessons and residential visits.

We also provide additional intervention in school to support children and help to 'close the gap' between the most able and the lower achievers.

We are all unique in the eyes of God and together we enjoy, aspire and achieve

Governor responsible for oversight of expenditure & outcomes of Pupil Premium Grant: Clive Williams

Context

St Mary and St Giles Church of England School receives additional funding in the form of the Pupil Premium Grant to support:

  • Pupils in the school who have received free school meals in one or more of the previous 6 years
  • Children on roll who are eligible for FSM
  • Pupils previously entitled to FSM (PPG)
  • Pupils in the school who are looked after
  • Children of parents who work for the armed services

Provision

The range of provision the school has considered include:

  • Reducing class sizes thus improving opportunities for personalised learning and accelerating progress
  • Providing small group work with an experienced teacher or trained TA focussed on overcoming gaps in learning
  • Providing teachers with high quality professional development including team teaching, coaching, peer observations and external courses
  • Additional teaching and learning opportunities provided through learning mentors, trained TAs or external agencies
  • Provision of additional resources (e.g. ICT programmes and hardware) to support learning of specific groups who do not have access to quality ICT at home
  • Investing in enrichment activities that inspire and motivate children
  • Working with families to improve attendance and punctuality
  • Providing educational experiences beyond the school day eg booster classes, homework club, breakfast club, a wide range of extra-curricular activities to enrich the curriculum
  • Subsidising visits, trips and residential school journeys
  • Providing opportunities for family learning

Aim

All our work funded by the Pupil Premium Grant will be aimed at accelerating pupil progress so that children eligible for free school meals reach at least age related expectations and develop their self-confidence. We recognise that not all pupils who receive free school meals will be socially disadvantaged and that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered or qualify for free school meals. We reserve the right to allocate the Pupil Premium Grant to support any pupil or groups of pupils the school has legitimately identified as being socially disadvantaged. At least 50% of any group will be made up of PPG children.

Allocation

The Pupil Premium Grant will be allocated following a needs analysis  which will identify priority classes, groups or individuals. Limited funding and resources means that not all children receiving free school meals will be in receipt of Pupil Premium interventions at any one time.

Reporting

It will be the responsibility of the Head teacher, Deputy Head teacher, SENCOs and senior leaders, to produce regular reports for the Governors on:

  • the progress made towards narrowing the gap for socially disadvantaged pupils
  • an outline of the provision that was made
  • an evaluation of the cost effectiveness of the progress made by the pupils receiving a particular intervention

The publication of online information stating how the pupil premium has been used

The Governors of the school will publish information on how they have used the Pupil Premium Grant to address the issue of ‘narrowing the gap’ for socially disadvantaged pupils.

Useful Documents

Pupil_premium_strategy_statement_2025-2028

Useful Links

Department for Education - Articles and advice for children and young people.