Parents who are in receipt of certain benefits are eligible to receive means-tested free school meals from Reception through to Year 13 in secondary school.  Whilst there is currently no charge to parents for school meals in Key Stage 1, parents in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are still encouraged to apply for means-tested free school meals if they think they are eligible.  Parents of children in Years 3 – 6 who think they might be eligible are also encouraged to apply.

Pupil Premium Funding

This is important to us as our school receives Pupil Premium funding for every single child who is eligible to receive means-tested free school meals which amounts to an extra £1345 per year for every eligible child. We can use this money in lots of different ways to benefit your child, for example to pay for additional teaching assistants or more specialised support, to provide more resources within school or to help with the funding of trips and other activities.

Eligibility Criteria

Your child may qualify for free school meals at our school from Reception onwards, if you meet the following criteria:

• you or your partner receive child benefit (for the child you are applying for), and
• the child is in full time education, under 19 years of age, and
• the child attends a local authority school or sixth form (but not a sixth form college). If your child attends nursery, attendance must be full-time and your child must attend before and after lunch in a nursery run by Gateshead Council.

You and your partner must be in receipt of one of the following benefits:

• Income Support
• Income Based Job Seekers Allowance (JSA – IB)
• Guarantee Pension Credit
• Income Related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA Income Related)
• Child Tax Credit – but not Working Tax Credit – and your income for Tax Credit purposes must be less than £16,190.00 (details are shown on your Tax Credit award notice)
• Working Tax Credit Run-on
• Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• Universal Credit and your net earned family income is less than £7,400.

If you think your child may be eligible to receive free school meals please click on the link here to apply online: