Free School Meals and Pupil Premium

Free School Meals

We encourage all families who are entitled to a free school meal to claim it. Parents/carers are entitled to claim free school meals for their child/children if they receive:

• Income Support (IS) or Income Based Job Seekers Allowance (IBJSA) (other job seekers allowances do not qualify)

• Income-related Employment Support Allowance (ESA(IR))

• Child Tax Credit, so long as you do are not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190

• Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit 

• Universal Credit – if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

• Guaranteed element of State Pension Credit

• Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

 For those students entitled to a free school meal, they will be able to take a lunch from our canteen on a daily basis without the need to request payment from their parent/carer. 

We would, therefore, encourage all parents/carers who qualify to claim the free school meals and take up the offer of a free school meal every day to save the family hundreds of pounds on lunches. 

 

What is Pupil Premium?

The Pupil Premium grant is additional funding for publicly funded schools in England; that gives schools extra resources to help them meet challenges, including those arising from deprivation. 

It is allocated for schools to:

• improve the academic outcomes of disadvantaged students of all abilities

• close the attainment gap between disadvantaged students and their peers across the country

Schools receive funding for each pupil premium student and can use the funding flexibly, in the best interests of eligible students. 

Which students are eligible to receive Pupil Premium funding?

Schools receive this additional funding for those pupils who fall within the below categories or have done so at any time within the last six years:

• those who qualify for free school meals (FSM)

• are receiving a child pension from the Ministry of Defence

• children from the families of services personnel (at any stage in the last four years)

• are a looked after child

• are adopted from care or have entered into special guardianship

• have a residence order

How Pupil Premium Funding is allocated

Sherwood Foundation School leaders draw upon an evidence based approach to apply a ‘tiered’ approach to delivering their pupil premium strategy.

Tier 1: supporting training and continuous development to improve the quality of all teaching

Tier 2: targeting support for disadvantaged students through one to one or small group tuition.

Tier 3: supporting strategies that develop learning outside of the classroom to promote the development of the whole student.

A longer term strategy

Since September 2019 schools are encouraged to include a reference to a multi-year strategy that outlines how the school aims to address the needs of disadvantaged students across all age ranges at the school. This will help school leaders to:

• Take a longer view of the support the grant will provide as students pass through the school

• Align their plans with the wider school improvement strategy

At Sherwood Foundation School, we are committed to our core vision of breaking the mould and reframing teaching and learning to realise the potential in every learner. 

We aim to celebrate, challenge and empower our students to belong, self-advocate and move forward with purpose, ready to succeed as adults.

Pupil Premium Strategy at Sherwood Foundation School

Pupil Premium funding is used primarily to address the following priorities:

• To provide relevant support to any disadvantaged learner to enable them to access our curriculum and learning to the best of their ability.

• To ensure disadvantaged students can access the same level of extra-curricular and life skills provided by the school, regardless of any additional cost.

At Sherwood Foundation School, we have 81 students who are entitled to Pupil Premium funding.

We regularly review our Pupil Premium initiatives to ensure they are having a positive impact. Each year we plan priorities for this year’s expenditure based on the cohort of eligible students.

Any Questions?

Please do not hesitate to contact our main offices if you have any questions

Sherwood Park 

020 8773 99310  parkoffice@sherwoodfoundationschool.org.uk  

Sherwood Hill 

020 8669 7832  Hilloffice@sherwoodfoundationschool.org.uk 

Sherwood Manor 

0204628 0808  manoroffice@sherwoodfoundationschool.org.uk