Infant free school meals in England

Your child will be able to get free school while they are in KS1. This covers Year R, Year 1 and Year 2. This is not based on income or any other factors, this is a goverment funded scheme called Universal Infant Free School Meals. We encourage all of our children to take up the offer of a hot lunch every day. We use HC3S to provide our hot lunches, you can view their menu here - Menus

Twice a year, we will send letters home to let you know when our 'census dates' are. We receive funding for the UIFSM scheme based on the number of children who take a meal on these 2 dates per year. They are usually in October and January. We change our menus to be really tasty on these days to try and get as many children as possible to have a meal, which in turn, means we get as much funding as possible for our children.

Even if your child is entitled to UIFSM, we ask you to check your elgibility for 'Standard Free school meals'. If your child qualifies for Standard Free School Meals, we receive extra funding called Pupil Premium funding which we can use to help your child's education. They also get free meals for their entire primary school journey. 

Standard Free School meals.

Your child may be entitled to free school meals if you get any of the following:

• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guaranteed element of 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 - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

Children who get paid these benefits directly, instead of through a parent or guardian, can also get free school meals.

If your child is eligible for free school meals, they’ll remain eligible until they finish the phase of schooling (primary or secondary) they’re in on 31 March 2023.

If you would like any help or have any questions about Free School Meals, please call our office on 02392 582 404