Why choose school meals?

School meals offer great value for money and provide your child with a nutritious, tasty meal cooked fresh every day.

School meals are:

• Nutritionally balanced to ensure they are low in fat, sugar and salt and high in vitamins and minerals – healthier than many packed lunches
• Helping your child to concentrate throughout the day – a hot meal at lunch-time provides energy – as well as encouraging them to try new foods
• Produced to a high quality using locally produced ingredients
• Helping your child to learn the social skills that eating and interacting with others brings
• Great value for money - £2.10 for a primary school meal and £2.15 for a secondary meal deal

Free School Meals

Did you know that 

• our school's food ordering process is the same for every child as we use an anonymous system therefore there is no way of identifying a child in receipt of free school meals?
• at our school, both school meal and packed lunch children sit together therefore swapping a packed lunch for a free school meal won't alter where your child sits or who they sit with?

• approximately 20% of children who are entitled to free school meals are not registered?
• the school receives additional funding known as pupil premium funding for every child entitled to free school meals? 

INFORMATION FROM KNOWSLEY COUNCIL

Free school meals

School meals are free for your child or children if you receive:

• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
• An income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Child Tax Credit and have an annual income of £16,190 or less (but not if you are in work and receive Working Tax Credit)
• The guarantee element of State Pension Credit
• Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• Universal Credit, provided you have an annual net earned income not exceeding £7,400 (£616.67 a month)

How to apply

You will need to apply for free school meals by completing an application on the parent portal link below.

You can only apply for free school meals using this online parent portal if your child is attending school within the Knowsley Borough.

If your child attends an ‘out of borough school’ then you must apply either directly to that school or to the Local Authority where the school is located. We cannot process applications for school children who attend schools out of the Knowsley boundary. 
 
You can only apply for free school meals if your child has been enrolled at their relevant school, otherwise you will have to wait until your child has been enrolled at school.

Universal Credit

If you are in receipt of Universal Credit and have an annual net earned income not exceeding £7,400, you should complete the application form on the parent portal below.

If you have recently applied for Universal Credit due to a change in your circumstances brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, there will possibly be a delay in confirming your eligibility for free school meals while your application is being processed by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Note: If you are over 18 and still attend school, you can claim for free school meals if you receive any of the first three allowances listed above.

Please make sure you have read the qualifying information before you submit a claim.

The person receiving the qualifying benefits must complete the form.

Apply for free school meals

Alternatively, you can complete the word document application below and email the completed form to benefits@knowsley.gov.uk.
 

School meals application form (Word)

Please note pupils in reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will not be able to receive a free school lunch until schools reopen.