Historically schools were allocated funding for Free School Meals based on the amount of children who took a meal on the January Census day. Recently it has been highlighted that this creates many difficulties for schools with regards to incorrect amounts of funding to pay for the free school meals for the following financial year.
For example, some schools experience a considerably low take up on Census day due to a school trip or pupils being off school due to sickness. This results in the school being allocated a lower amount of money for the following financial year, even though the eligibility of pupils for Free School Meals remains the same.
It has been agreed at the Schools Forum that the January Census figures will be compared to a specified date in the previous May and November. If it is found that the January Census figures are considerably lower than that of the previous specified date in May and November an average amount from the three dates will be taken.
On average, most schools will experience a 70% take up of Free School Meals. If your school has a higher take up you will be contacted to highlight any areas of best practice. You may be invited to share best practice ideas with other schools in order to help increase take up across the County.
You will need to ensure you are completing the monthly School Meal Return for your school in order to provide the relevant information to calculate your Free School Meal funding for the following year.
Take up figures of Free School Meals from the first Thursday in May and November will be taken to compare to the January Census. For the 2009 Census only, the figures from the first Thursday in November will be used as a comparison. Take up figures for Free School Meals were not collected from schools in May 2008.
For more information and to see the proposal presented at the Schools Forum, please see Agenda Item 5.2 using the Related Section link below.
Related Section