School meals

Family dining

Lunchtime is a key part of our school day. We eat lunch ‘family dining’ style, during which children learn to serve themselves and each other (as opposed to having to queue at a counter to collect their food). We all sit down as a school and eat together; adults eat the school lunch with the children to encourage and model good conversations. We serve each other food and help tidy away together. We value this time and see it as a key learning opportunity.
 

Listen to some of our students explaining our family dining style approach in this video:

Free school meals

Although all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2  get Universal Free School Meals, schools only receive the Pupil Premium funding if parents or carers are registered for Free School Meals. 

From September 2026, all children can get Free School Meals, if:

• they attend an eligible school, and
• their household gets Universal Credit.

There will be two types of Free School Meals based on benefits:

Targeted

This is the same as now. It applies to pupils from households on Universal Credit with annual earnings of £7,400 or less. As well as Free School Meals, these pupils will still bring pupil premium and other disadvantage funding to their school.

Expanded

This is a new category. It is for pupils whose households get Universal Credit but earn more than £7,400 a year. These pupils will be entitled to Free School Meals only.

How to Apply

To check if you qualify, please complete the form here. You will be told straight away if you are eligible. 

Registration is completely confidential and it will not affect any other benefits.
If you need support accessing the form, please contact the academy office.

Once you have your eligibility confirmed, you will receive an email. Please provide this to the academy so we can update our records.