School Meals And Accessing Free School Meals

Lunches

King's Park Academy has its own on-site kitchen, run by Chef David.

If your child or children do not qualify for Free School Meals or Universal Free School Meals, the cost of school lunch is £12.50 per week (£2.50 per day).

PLEASE REMEMBER - weekly payments must be made in advance before 4 pm on Tuesdays for meals for the following school week and hot lunches can only be booked for full weeks and not individual days.

Please note, the Universal Free School Meals scheme is only available to children up until the end of Year 2. Therefore, children in Year 3 and above will need to pay, unless your household is eligible for Free School Meals.

School lunches must be paid for by credit or debit card using the school online payment system by logging onto your account on www.parentpay.com. Please do not send cash or cheques to school.

Please be aware that your balance showing on ParentPay will not reduce until the day the meal has been taken. Therefore, please ensure any payments you make includes enough credit to pay for the for the current weeks meals, as well as £12.50 payment for the following week.

We would encourage all parents to check if their child is eligible to FSM by going onto this BCP website: https://online.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals . If you do apply, please email kingspark@kpa.weareauthentic.education to inform us that an application has been made. Until it is confirmed that your child is entitled, you will need to pay for school meals or provide a packed lunch.

Please let the school office know if your child has any new dietary requirements i.e. vegetarian or no pork.

Please see below the Eligibility Requirements for Free School Meals. Please note this is not the same as Universal Frees School Meals which are provided to Reception, Years 1 and 2. If your child has Universal Free School Meals and any of the following applies to you (detailed below), please apply for pupil premium free school meals, or also if your child is in Years 3 to 6 and you are currently not receiving Free School Meals.

Pupil Premium Grant

If you are eligible for free school meals, your child’s school can access The Pupil Premium Grant. This grant must be spent by your child’s school to help eligible pupils reach their full potential, both academically and socially. The school decides how best to spend this.

Your child might be eligible 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. You must also 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 receive FSM are also entitled to free milk in school.

To apply, please visit the link below:

https://online.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals/?caseId=7868380c-1f12-ef11-9f89-000d3a69f8ea&eventDefId=91ae8b23-a85f-e911-a96e-000d3aba6f7c

Free School Meals Application 2024-2025.pdf

Children in households with no recourse to public funds

Families with an irregular immigration status have a no recourse to public funds (NRPF).

These groups include, but may not be limited to children of:

Zambrano carers
families who have no recourse to public funds with a right to remain in the UK on grounds of private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights
families receiving support under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 who are also subject to a no recourse to public funds restriction
a subset of failed asylum seekers supported under Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
Chen carers
families holding a BN(O) passport
spousal visa holders
work visa holders
student visa holders
those with no immigration status.

The government have permanently extended eligibility for free school meals to children from all families with NRPF, subject to the income thresholds as follows:

£22,700 per annum for families outside London with one child
£31,200 per annum for families within London with one child
£26,300 per annum for families outside London with two or more children
£34,800 per annum for families within London with two or more children

This includes any wider income or support you may be receiving in addition to any earnings from employment. You will need to provide documentary evidence as proof of your income for both yourself and partner (where applicable) – this could be a bank statement, a pay slip or an employment contract.

In addition to these thresholds, families must hold no more than £16,000 in capital and savings.

To apply for free school meals, you will need to complete an application form that includes a self-declaration form to verify eligibility. Please complete one application form per child.

Apply for free school meals if you have no recourse to public funds NRPF