Free School Meals new online system and additional funding

Guru Nanak Sikh Academy has signed up to a new Free School Meals system. The system automatically checks HMRC, The Department for Work and Pensions and The Home Office websites. Parent/carer’s only need to sign up once and then the system checks regularly for any changes in your circumstances during your child’s time at Guru Nanak Sikh Academy.

The system simply requires a parent/carer’s date of birth and national insurance number, which enables us to check your child's eligibility for means tested Free School Meals status and Pupil Premium Funding. You only need to give the date of birth and national insurance number for one parent. You will need to make a new application for each child but your information will be remembered to help you to complete multiple applications quickly. You will get an immediate response regarding eligibility after you've completed your application. We would like to encourage as many parents/carers as possible to sign into this system, via the link below. Please copy and paste into your web browser:

https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/ofsm/sims

As an incentive, we will enter everyone that signs up before Friday 12th July 2024 into a draw where one person per year group will win a £50 supermarket voucher.

Anyone eligible for a free school meal and who registers their eligibility will save themselves hundreds of pounds per year and your child will benefit from a healthy, hot school meal. You will also help raise money for the school following a government commitment to pay schools for each student registered through the pupil premium. Your child does not need to take the meal, but the school still gets the extra funding if you register.

The Pupil Premium funding is paid to the school directly for them to decide how best to use this resource. Ofsted inspections ensure the schools use the funding appropriately.

The funding can be used in many ways. Examples of how we may use the funding include:

• Introducing reading and homework clubs.
• Summer schools to help children with transition to secondary school.
• Subsidising the cost of school trips or uniform.
• Paying for additional staffing.
• Providing small group tuition.
• Providing a wide range of extra-curricular activities.
• Purchasing new technology.
• Providing mentoring programmes.
• Improving resources such as books, computers and sports equipment.