free school meals / pupil premium
free school meals
Your child may be entitled to free school meals if you receive any of the following:
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- The guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
- Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
- Universal Credit
Did you know that registering your child for free school meals means that the school gets extra money? The Government gives money to schools to help children from lower income families do their very best. This funding is called a ‘Pupil Premium’. For every child registered, the school gets £955 (2021/22) to be used to support their learning.
How does it work?
If you want your child to have a free, healthy meal at lunchtime, that’s great – they will get the free school meal (saving you more that £350 a year) and the school gets £955 extra.
If you don’t want your child to have the free school meals, they can continue as normal – as long as you qualify and are registered, the school still gets extra funding for your child.
Please remember you must qualify and register for free school meals for the school to receive the extra money, even if you do not want your child to have the free school meals. Please register as soon as possible to make sure your child and others in their class don’t miss out.
Registering for free school meals is confidential. No one will know you have registered and it will not affect any other benefits you are claiming.
A free school meals application form can be downloaded here or collected from the school: Free School Meals Application Form
PUPIL PREMIUM GRANT
What is the Pupil Premium Grant?
The Pupil Premium is an allocation of funding given to schools by the Department of Education in order to help support and further raise the achievement of pupils who are in one of the following categories:
- Pupils currently eligible for free school meals (FSM)
- Pupils who have been eligible to claim for free school meals within the last six years
- Pupils in Local Authority Care or who have previously been in Local Authority Care
- The children of members of our Armed Services
The funding is given directly to schools, and schools are encouraged to use it in ways that will promote the progress, attainment and achievement of Pupil Premium learners, and to help secure their performance at GCSE.
How We Use the Pupil Premium Grant
In the academic year 2021/22, St Joseph’s received £137,075 and this ensured that the outcomes of those in receipt of the Pupil Premium grant continue to improve. Pupil Premium learners at both KS3 and KS4 are achieving and exceeding target grades across the curriculum. If students are identified as needing extra support, the Pupil Premium grant can enable this to happen in a variety of ways.
St Joseph’s has used our allocated grant in a variety of ways:
- Employment of further teachers and teaching assistants so that all pupils not achieving their target grades in Maths and English can have small group intervention, facilitated by experts
- A contribution to the salary of the Wellbeing Officer for all pupils
- Guaranteed access to and funding for school trips
- Funding so all pupils can have access to extra-curricular trips and activities that are offered by St Joseph’s
- Grants for uniform upon application
- Access to the National Tutoring Programme for Year 10 and 11
- Prioritised access to the Independent Careers Advisor and support with work experience placements
- Supply of learning equipment across the school
- Revision resources at KS4
- Access to any summer schools that St Joseph's are running
Each student is recognised as an individual and we work hard to meet their needs accordingly. The effectiveness of the interventions offered for pupils in receipt of the Pupil Premium grant are constantly reviewed.
Further details are available in our Pupil Premium Grant Strategy.
EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES FOR PP PUPILS
CURRENT/ongoing & upcoming EVENTS
Year 11 Pupil Premium TLC Revision Sessions - Started November 2021
PAST EVENTS
FUEL Easter Holiday Programme - April 2022
FUEL is a free holiday activity and food project that offers children the opportunity to take part in a range of fun activities during school holiday periods in 2022. Children will also be provided with a nutritious meal on each day that they attend.
FUEL Easter camps will run in 10 locations across Wiltshire and each camp will run for four hours a day (10am to 2pm), from 19th–22nd April 2022.
All children that are entitled to Free School Meals are eligible to attend. Please click the button below for more information and details on how to apply for a place.
Bath Spa University Visit - November 2021
On 3rd November, we welcomed Bath Spa University to St Joseph's. They led a morning workshop for Year 7 Pupil Premium students – they did a whole host of Higher Education activities, discovered the vast range of courses on offer and also found out what University life is like! We hope our pupils left feeling excited and motivated about their prospects for the future.
Summer Schools at St Joseph's - July & August 2021
In July and August St Joseph’s ran summer schools for identified pupils: one for Year 6 children that were about to become part of our community in September, and one for Year 10 to enable them to have a ‘head start to year 11’.
The students invited were either in receipt of Pupil Premium funding, have an EHCP or an SEN need, or were identified by teachers as those that would particularly benefit from attending.
For more information about this, see this page.