St Mary’s Catholic Primary School Haig Avenue, Leyland, PR25 2QA 01772 422 431

St Mary’s Catholic
Primary School

Headteacher: Mrs L O’Mahony
Deputy Head: Mrs N Sayers
SEND: Miss Moriarty

Free School Meals

Did you know – just registering your child for Free School Meals means that the school receives extra money?

The Government has changed the way in which funding is now allocated to individual schools. The Pupil Premium funding enables schools to further support children from lower income families to achieve their potential.

For every child registered for Free School Meals, St. Mary’s receives £488 a year through the Pupil Premium scheme.

With this money we ensure that all our classes are as small as possible and supported by teaching assistants who offer in class support or intervention work for pupils. If you are registered for Free School Meals you could also receive significant help towards the cost of the Y6 residential trip, as well as free milk and fruit for children in the infant department.

A national school census is undertaken each January resulting in the Government’s allocation of funding to individual schools some of which is based on the number of children eligible for Free School meals. Although there may appear to be changes to the way in which schools are funded it is becoming apparent that very little of it is “New Money”.

If eligible, please register before Christmas to ensure the school receives its full entitlement of funding.

How does it work?

  1. First, check if you qualify – it is not just if you are unemployed, so please look at the list further down the page.
  2. Registering is really quick and easy – if you think you qualify, contact The free school meals team on 01772 531809 who will help you to register.
  3. If you want your child to have a free, healthy meal at lunchtime that’s great – they will get the free meal (saving you more that £350 a year), extra benefits and the school receives £488 extra.
  4. If you don’t want your child to have the school meals they can continue as normal – as long as you qualify and are registered, the school still gets £488 extra.

No one will know you have registered and it will not affect any other benefits you are claiming.

Please talk to us about registering your child today.

Do you qualify?

You can register your child for Free School Meals if you receive any of these benefits:

  • Income Support
  • Income-based Jobseekers’s Allowance
  • Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
  • Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
  • The Guarantee element of the State Pension Credit
  • Child Tax Credit, provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual income (as assessed by HM Revenue & Customs) that does not exceed £16,190
  • Working Tax Credit ‘run-on’ – the payment someone may receive for a further four weeks after they stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit