Celebrating free school meals and pupil premium awareness campaign successes
Cheshire East schools have attracted an additional £182,985 funding as a result of a Conservative-led Cheshire East Council awareness campaign to raise awareness of the eligibility for free school meals and the pupil premium that comes with this. The awareness campaign ran for eight weeks from mid March.
The aim of the campaign was to highlight that for every child registered for free school meals their school receives a pupil premium. For each primary school, this could equate to up to £1,320 per child per year - or up to £935 for each secondary school.
As part of the campaign, the Conservative Cheshire East Council distributed posters and leaflets to local schools, in seven different languages and ran messages and videos across their social media channels.
The campaign had the following results:
- 148 applications for free school meals/pupil premium;
- 150 additional pupils now receive free school meals/pupil premium;
- 111 primary schools now receive an additional government funding per pupil, totalling £146,520 and;
- 39 secondary schools now receive an additional government funding per pupil, totalling £36,465
Children in reception through to Year 2 are automatically entitled to a free school meal through a universal scheme, regardless of parents’ income. But if parents are receiving one of the qualifying benefits, they could also get the pupil premium for their school by applying online.
For children in Year 3 through to Year 13, there are eligibility criteria to meet in order to qualify for free school meals.
Find out now if you are eligible and make an online application here (quoting FSM2019). If you require assistance completing an online application, call 0300 123 5012.
