School Dinners and Free School Meals

Please note that from 1st February onwards, the BBQ fish goujons (blue week) will be replaced with Fish Fingers.

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
• Help your child to concentrate throughout the day - a hot meal at lunch-time provides energy - as well as encouraging them to try new foods.
• Are produced to a high quality using locally produced ingredients
• Help your child to learn the social skills that eating and interacting with others brings
• Great value of money at only £1.90 a day.

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

If you submit a claim for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction and you are in receipt of one of the qualifying incomes listed above, we will automatically assess your entitlement to Free School Meals (FSM). This is completed at the point that we assess your entitlement to Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction. There is no need for you to apply separately for FSM.

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 for free school meals’ below.  
 

Apply for school meals

Residents in receipt of Universal Credit should complete the free school meals application form and return it to any One Stop Shop.

Please click on the link below to be taken to Knowsley Council's Free School Meals information and application form.

https://www.knowsley.gov.uk/residents/education-and-schools/school-meals-and-menus.aspx