@ExitThisWay
I totally understand why your asking this. My children became eligible for FSM 2 years ago. In so glad they did and I claimed it, although I often have imposter syndrome about it. Although my circumstances have slightly changed my children will get pupil premium funding & FSM until they finish the school they are at now. It is a godsend knowing they have had a hot dinner at lunchtime. Not having to make packed lunches is amazing. Knowing is not the end of the world if they have beans on toast for tea if we are busy as they have had a hot lunch is great.
I also received the vouchers over the summer holidays and have just received vouchers for x mas (this a Via a council scheme not a national scheme this time) my children also accessed free summer holiday family days which included craft / sport / cookery family sessions at a local secondary school. In lockdown when so much was closed this was a lovely activity/ day to do on some days. I know from working in schools that extra funding is given and pupil premium children are monitored as a group due to the inequality’s children face from lower income backgrounds. I’m glad that however hard it is to acknowledge that it’s my children that this effects - that I’m doing all I can to help them by claiming FSM and letting school claim the extra funding for them.
Thank you for your post. I work in a secondary school as a data manager. We have approx 10-12% FSM at any time. The most important part of my job (imo) is in the morning to get new FSM approvals onto our MIS, so that all runs smoothly at the tills at lunchtime. I notify Finance and chaplaincy. We don't want any of our students embarrassed at the tills. However, part of the conversation that Finance have with parents is to advise them of what FSM covers. I, naively until I took this job, thought FSM was a cash allowance so that the children could take what meal choice they chose. That isnt the case - FSM only covers certain options - and if students and families are not aware, that can cause issues.
A (surprisingly large) part of my job is to reconcile the FSM account with the LA so I remove students from our account where a parent has named the wrong school; transfer leavers, so the students FSM are attached to the correct school; remove randoms (under age or over age); remove duplicate eligible applications. Although eligibility of the student doesnt change, the way school finance works is that the student will only get the FSM from the date it is allocated to the school account (in my county), so I need to be totally reconciled each day.
We are a religious academy so have a chaplaincy team. They have been fiendish since lock-down in contacting our FSM families to offer support, including access to the food bank we are running. Our families appreciate the support offered, even if they choose not to accept.
We have worked really hard with families to ensure that any family that might be eligible for summer/half-term/Xmas vouchers received them.
So many within a school environment might know and are actively working to get it right.
I could post a lot more about PP but that really is another thread!!