We've responded to the news that half a million extra pupils are to qualify for the Pupil Premium, one of the additional benefits provided to children registered for free school meals.
The support is to be extended to all children who have been registered for free school meals in the last six years.
Our Chief Executive, Judy Hargadon, said: “This is why it’s never been so important that everyone working with children and families is doing everything they can to encourage them to take up free school meals if they qualify.
“By doing so they are first making sure that children can have a healthy lunch every day – which can sometimes be the only proper meal they eat in a day and can save families on a low income hundreds of pounds a year – then also that they don’t miss out on extra support which comes with free school meals, like the Pupil Premium.
“We’re still concerned that far too many families either don’t know that they qualify for free school meals or are put off from taking them for many different reasons – for some it might be the application process which seems difficult; for others it might be that queues in the canteen mean pupils don’t want to wait for their lunch.
“The School Food Trust’s Free School Meals Matter campaign is working with schools across the country to help them tackle all these issues so that free school meals reach all children who need them.”
Our Free School Meals Matter toolkit is free to download at www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/resources/fsmtoolkit
