The government makes a payment to schools for every child entitled to free school meals.
This supports children who may be vulnerable to underachievement. 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 free school meals also means your child could access additional support such as:
All school children in these years automatically get universal infant free school meals.
However if you feel you receive any of the qualifying benefits please still apply for free school meals when you enrol your child in school. This will ensure additional support for:
If you apply for free school meals and are eligible, your child's school will automatically get pupil premium funding.
Find out more about Early years pupil premium funding.
This includes pupils that have left local authority care for one of these reasons:
It also includes children of parents who serve in the regular armed forces who can apply for Service pupil premium (SPP)
To arrange pupil premium in these cases, contact your child's school.
