Free School Meals (FSM)
It has never been easier to apply for free school meals. Click here to access the Cambridge County Council website for clear guidance on how to apply online. The application form is easy to complete but we can help you with this at school if you would like further assistance.
Pupils who receive free school meals have £2.35 placed on their Cashless Catering at the start of every school day. This can be spent at break or lunchtime in the canteen. The pupil cannot be identified as receiving free school meals when they use their biometric identity so the process is completely private.
When you register your children for free school meals, the Academy will receive a sum of money from the Government for each child, this fund is called Pupil Premium.
Pupil Premium Funding
The Government believes that Pupil Premium (PP) funding, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the underlying inequalities between children who are eligible for free school meals (FSM), or who have been eligible in the last 6 years, and their peers.
The use of the term ‘Pupil Premium’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last 6 years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route.
Schools also receive funding for children who have been looked after continuously for more than 6 months and for those pupils who are the children of either currently serving member of HM forces, or who have retired on a pension from the Ministry of Defence. This ‘Service Premium’ is not classed as Pupil Premium but is allocated to help with pastoral support.
The Pupil Premium (PP) and Service Premium currently stands at:
- £1035 for every secondary age pupil who claims free school meals or who has claimed free school meals in the last 6 years
- £2,530 for every pupil who are within local authority care
- £2,530 for every pupil who has left local authority care through adoption, a special guardianship order or child arrangements order
- £335 for every child of either a serving member of HM forces or retired on a pension from the MOD
The PP funding is used to help fund a range of educational benefits for pupils across the school such as targeted small group interventions, additional pastoral support, or inclusion in school activities such as extra-curricular clubs, school trips and music lessons.
It is a requirement for the Academic year 2024/25 that the school publishes both how the money was spent in 2024/25 and how it is going to be spent in the coming year 2024/25.
The strategy document can be found in the side panel and here.
There is much evidence to suggest that those in receipt of Pupil Premium funding do not always experience a rich set of activities and opportunities which broaden their outlook and perspective. Therefore, a significant strand of the Strategy document focuses on giving pupils a set of experiences and memories they will never forget. We encourage all pupils, but especially those in receipt of Pupil Premium Funding, , to extend the boundaries of learning and take part in school trips, visits and to live a broad range of childhood experiences offered by our Offers and Opportunities Programme (OOP).
The impact of activities outlined in the strategy document above, are reviewed throughout the Academic year both internally by the school, as well as through quality assurance visits coordinated by the Trust.
