School Meals & Menu

Free school meals

Your child may be entitled to free school meals or a premium to assist with their education.

Even if your child does not wish to eat free school meals but is entitled to, the Academy could receive funding of around £​1200 per year to help with tuition, resources, coaching and extra assistance.

To find out if your child is entitled please follow the Free School Meals link, if they are eligible you can apply here https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/ofsm/harrisfederation

The basic information is also reproduced below:

Pupil Premium is a Government grant which is paid to schools / academies. It is allocated for children from low-income families who are currently known to be eligible for Free School Meals or to children who have been looked after continuously (in Local Authority care) for more than six months. This grant was introduced in April 2011 and information is taken from a Data Collection from all schools called the School Census.

Who is eligible?

Your child may be eligible for free school meals if you receive either:

• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• 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
• Universal Credit – provided your total net earnings are no more than £616.67 each month
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

Your child must be attending a state-funded school in the Thurrock area. If your child attends a school outside of Thurrock, you must apply to the council for the area in which they attend school.

You may also be able to claim free school meals for your child if you have 'no recourse to public funds' – for example, if you cannot claim benefits.

When you must apply

You must make a new application for your child to start receiving free school meals, even if their siblings already receive free school meals.

When you have to register

If you've moved to Thurrock and had been assessed as eligible for free school meals in the area you moved from, you only have to register with us – you don't have to make a new application.

When you don't have to apply

You don't have to make a new application at the start of each school year – even if your child's school says you should. The government will allow your entitlement to continue, either until it finishes introducing Universal Credit (expected in 2023), or until your child leaves school when they complete year 11 or a sixth form college connected to the school, whichever is sooner.

You also don't have to make a new application if your child:

• changes their school in-year within Thurrock
• moves from primary to secondary school within Thurrock

How to apply or register

Visit https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/ofsm/harrisfederation - this link will send any successful applications directly to the academy finance department. 
or  https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/school-meals/free-school-meals 

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