Free School Meals question

[rp1608]

I am being nosy now, I was wondering if anyone knows what a school receives per pupil for free school meals and/or for the milk (at primary), I know they receive pupil premium additionally.

[choccyp1g]

At DS school we have an electronic system and if you get FSM you get 1.95 credited daily to the card. (Despite an average lunch costing 2.05 accordig to their theory, though I think most kids would spend more like 2.75).

Also, the credits only last for a day, so if you are off sick or on a trip for a few days, you don't get to pig out when you come back.

[prh47bridge]

It varies from LA to LA. Indeed, in some LAs it varies from school to school. Also some LAs calculate based on the entitlement to FSM, others calculate based on the take up. So I'm afraid there is no simple answer to your question.

[GetDownNesbitt]

What we receive is spent on the food, afaik. Because if a child with FSM is off, the meal is still there. We don't make much, if any, profit on school dinners.

[mamakubica]

We don't make much, if any, profit on school dinners.
well i suppose if one wanted to make profit on dinners, one would open a cafe, not run a school....

[GetDownNesbitt]

Sorry, what I meant was, we don't make much that can then be put back in to supplement the budget for dinners. We can't spend it on anything else. Our cook does a great job making ends meet but because the kids can choose what they want, there is a fair amount of waste.

In the bad old days I worked in a school with vending machines - the money they made on that old crap was pure profit to be spent on anything the school liked.

[mamakubica]

In the bad old days I worked in a school with vending machines my kids'school just got rid of those last year! can u believe it>?