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Free School Meals Eligibility

To download a copy of this letter, click here.

  • April 3, 2025

Dear Parent/Carer,

Application for Free School Meals Eligibility and Pupil Premium

Every year we encourage parents to check whether they are eligible for free school meals as this brings in additional funding for the school and allows your child to receive a free school meal.

In order to do this, we work with Wigan Council by using their ‘Free School Meals Eligibility Checker’ and this involves parents completing a Free School Meal Eligibility application form. The form is used to check eligibility with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This form is attached and is also available on our website under the Parents – Catering section and should be completed and returned to school as soon as possible.

This is so that we can check if your child is eligible to receive a free school meal or not. In most cases, we should already know this; however there have been cases recently where families have been unaware that their child is eligible for free school meals. If your child already receives a free school meal, then you do not need to complete this form. If you are in receipt of certain benefits or on a low income you are encouraged to complete this form.

You can apply for free school meals if you or your child receives 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 guarantee 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).

There are also other benefits to receiving a free school meal. For every child who is eligible, the school will receive additional Pupil Premium funding which can be used to provide further support for your child.

By completing and returning this form to us you will allow DWP to check and then subsequently advise us if your child is eligible to receive a free school meal. The school will then be able to claim for Pupil Premium funding.

Important: If you require any further information or help in completing the application form please contact school. If you do not wish to claim a free school meal Wigan Council will still share the eligibility status with us to enable us to claim Pupil Premium funding.

Please note that by completing the form, the School or Wigan Council will NOT be able to access information about your benefits or financial circumstances. The checks are completed by DWP and they will only share whether you are eligible or not.

We would be really grateful if you could complete the details on the form in full and return this to school.

Yours sincerely,

Mr P Davies
Headteacher

Supporting Documents

How Yondr Works

Frequently Asked Questions

We want our students to be engaged in their learning. A child at high school should not really have a reason to contact a parent during the day; however, if there is a genuine reason e.g. they have forgotten their packed lunch, a phone call can be made home from the school office. If a parent needs to contact their child in an emergency, they should contact the school office. If you need to contact your child during the school day, contact the main office on 01942 883796.

In case of a school emergency, we direct our students to safety first, following our school emergency procedures.

 

Students are in possession of their phone - in their Yondr pouch - for the entire school day. We will advise students to store the pouch safely in their school bag or blazer pockets.

If a student damages their Pouch or is caught on their phone, we will confiscate the phone and issue a sanction which is likely to be a suspension.

Note: Damage consists of any signs that the physical integrity of the pouch has been compromised, whether intentional or unintentional, as determined by the school or Yondr staff.

Damaged pouches will be charged to parents at a cost of £20.

They will be searched and wanded with a handheld scanner by a member of SLT. If they are found to have their phone on their person they will be expected to place it in their pouch. Refusal will be met with suspension.

If a student forgets their Pouch, their phone will be confiscated.

As per our previous mobile phone policy;

  • Confiscated phones will be taken to reception where the phone will be secured in the school safe.
  • Parents will be alerted to the phone confiscation via the school office.

Parents will have the option to collect the phone at the end of the day. If parents do not collect the phone, the phone will remain in school until the end of the week or until the student has their pouch.

In Yondr’s experience, this almost never happens. All students funnel past the unlocking stations at the exits, they want their phones back and don’t forget to unlock their pouches. If they do arrive home with a phone in a pouch, they can either come back to school to unlock it, or have a phone free evening!

The unlocking process is quick and takes under a second per student. 

As a privilege, Year 11 will be able to unlock their phones as they go off site at lunchtime; however, they will be expected to put their phones back into their pouches when they return to school for period 5.

Yes. There is an adapted version of the pouch which uses a Velcro fastener instead of a magnetic lock. This means the student still follows the policy, but the adapted pouch gives them easy access to their phone when required. If the student abuses this, they will face a sanction. We are already aware of these students.

Your Office 365 account username is your school network account username followed by @flhs.wigan.sch.uk 
The password is the same password that you use in school to access computers.