Free school meals for reception child short fall

[Lilacbluewaters]

My daughter has free school meals she is in reception but I’m still having to pay a short fall each week. Is this normal? Is it not fully covered?
also she has a piece of toast every morning at snack time which is £3 a week. I am on universal credit and struggling atm to make ends meet and thinking £3 a week for 5 slices of toast is extortionate.
is this the norm though?

I have worked with a school who considered
asked for a voluntary contribution to cover the shortfall between what they are given for FSM and the price of the meal in Key Stage 1. However, it was voluntarily, and all children in KS1 are entitled to a free lunch. It sounds like you may be entitled to be in receipt of 'Pupil Premium', this gives the school a little extra money and would mean that you didn't have to pay for school meals as your child goes up into key stage 2. I would give the school a ring and explain that you are unable to make these additional payments, they will understand.
Also £3 for toast sounds extortionate!
I am basing the above on you being in England. I don't know about Scotland, Wales

The free school meal funding per child does not cover the cost that the school is charged for the meal (assuming they, like most schools, use a catering company). Most schools just absorb the shortfall and pay it themselves but, in theory, they could ask for this to be covered. If your child is eligable for pupil premium rather than just the general Reception and KS1 free school meals, they should be using some of this to cover it.

Milk and fruit is available in schools for free but if your child wants things other than this then the school can charge for them. They should, however, be able to show the breakdown of the cost (including materials, electricity, staff cost, etc.) as they should not be making a profit from it, just covering costs. 60p per slice of toast seems high for this unless very few pupils actually taken them up on it.

OP are you claiming the Universal Free School meals (avilable to everyone in R, Y1 and Y2) or are you entitled to Pupil Premium and Free School Meals (household income below approx £7600 a year). There is a big difference between the 2.

Please contact the school to query this; you will not be the only parent in a similar situation and they will be able to advise/help. If you don't ask you don't get.

As others have said all year R, 1 & 2 pupils get free school dinners as a minm.

I wouldnt be giving a kid toast as snack everyday anyway. Our school only does free fruit for ks1/rec.
Other years bring own fruit.
,1 piece is extra 100cal so 500 a week every week. Whereas apple is say 50. Banana is 100, but school also do say carrot etc.
Wheras i wouldnt mibd payying £3 a week if it were for the fruit snack as its generally more expensive

DDs school charge for toast and a drink at snack time but all meals are free. It's broken down on Parent Pay so you can see how much each snack item costs. The teachers are helpful and if you tell them the child isn't allowed to order it - they won't let them. Otherwise they order it themselves and it comes out of your Parent Pay.
There is no charge for the school meals as she's Y1 - just at snack time. It might be something similar for you - just ask the teachers to clarify

Never heard of this before! I think you need to raise with school and ask for this topic to be discussed at school governors meeting, schools should be asking families for voluntary contributions only. £3 from a couple of families would be enough toast for whole class. Not on. Not appropriate putting you in a position to have explain to your 5 year old that they must decline the snack that pals are eating. Not appropriate for children this age to worry about parents finances. School meal providers are usually franchises making a good profit by making meals low cost to prepare. Small portions and cheap ingredients etc. My children’s portion sizes were bigger at nursery. We always give packed lunches now. They came home literally crying with hunger some days. Infuriating as for some children this is their only hot meal of the day and many parents have no idea how small and poor quality the meals are. Don’t believe the balanced meal blurb, I know lunch and kitchen staff who have confirmed the above and advised me to send them on with packed lunch. If kids need toast as a morning snack alongside free fruit, it is likely lunch portions are small.

Thank you all for your replies! My daughter only started this term and never dealt with all this before. I will have to find out if we eligible to the premium.
it is £3 for toast a week AND the shortfall of school meals which is just under £2.
i would definitely send her in with her own snack, no one had informed me that there was a charge and if there had been I would have opted out. Thanks everyone for the information

She only started this term? Not in September? If eligible for pupil premium as above, you need to let the school know as they get extra funding. They can use any pupil premium for school trips etc. For snack definitely send your own in, rice cakes etc.

What many don't know, if a child is not in roll in October census, the school gets no base funding for a child for the entire year - funding for 23/24 is based on October 22 census. This has huge impact on school budgets as that is about £4000 the school has to find. It is wrong, as parents can choose when to start up to compulsory age.

Yes she started this term, I have applied for the pupil premium and it says I am eligible. I should get a letter of entitlement soon it says.
once the school are aware will the charges be taken away? Should I let them know first I have applied?

Milk and fruit is available in schools for free

Children who want milk at my school have to pay. Ks1/EY pupils get free fruit.

FSM for all KS1 children at my DDs school, I thought that was the national requirement. No toast for KS1 children as our school found children weren’t eating their lunches as they weren’t hungry after toast in the morning. KS1 get free fruit for snacks and KS2 we pay £7 for toast per half term an increase from £6. We can send “healthy” snacks in if we want.

Just because it’s showing you owe money on parent pay dose not mean you actually do.

I agree with others, ask the school what your paying for, it’s noting to do with what you can and can’t afford but knowing exactly why they are asking for it.

she has a piece of toast every morning at snack time which is £3 a week

Speak to the school and find out what’s free and what’s not. I presume the toast every morning is not compulsory and you can just opt out if you don’t want to pay that.

My dd is yr 1, I’ve never paid anything for school meals, my dd gets a fruit snack and lunch. The toast may be something the school chose to bring in extra funds? I’m sure you can opt out, it’s not something I’ve ever heard of.

I’m certainly no legal expert, but the wording on page 10 of this document doesn’t seem to suggest they can charge for the lunch in any way: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63d92829d3bf7f251e968cdb/Free_school_meals.pdf#page10

My DS is in reception and I don't pay extra for lunches, we also pay £1 a week for toast so 20p a slice.

Let them know on Monday (they may be able to include in the census), and speak to them, the lunches at least should be voluntary contributions, the toast should be optional but may providde for pupil premium.

This is not the norm. All infant children are entitled to free lunch, and they often get a piece of fruit at break (although I'm not sure if this is from the same funding). You are not obliged to pay anything,.you could possibly send her with her own fruit snack for break time

Every Universal Infant Free School Meal costs the school about 40p or something I believe. That’s a massive amount out of a school budget which is already too short.
At our school we ask parents for the shortfall if they can afford it (not those on Free School Meals obviously).
We also ask for donations of soap, glue sticks, felt tips etc.
Bloody Tories.

There's a difference between FSM and UIFSM.

FSM = entitlement based on family circumstances, such as in receipt of certain benefits. If you qualify then FSM are given through school unless circumstances change - I.e all the way to year 6.

UIFSM = all EYFS and KS1 pupils (I.e up to and including year 2 pupils) don't pay for lunch at school. From year 3 they will need to pay.

If you've put in an application for PP and you're eligible you are likely eligible for FSM. Please talk to your school office, let them know about your application and that you are struggling to pay the shortfall. The school will receive additional funds per PP and FSM student which they can put towards paying for the snack time as well as other school activities.

It is the most awkward system in the world how they calculate and pay it to schools, but every child entitled to UFSM should the census etc be completed and submitted correctly will get £2.41 for each meal; enough for lunch even with the most profit gauging of suppliers. If a school isn't managing this then they should seek guidance. Agree that funding is literally threadbare and in no way sufficient but this is one area where schools should be fine, if they aren't they're likely doing something wrong. I'd be mindful of asking parents to top something up that's already funded, and soap is one of your health and safety legal obligations I'd be moving my child from your gaff tbh!

OP, never be embarrassed to discuss money with the school office. In some areas, 75% of families are in the same situation. The school team won't bat an eyelid. They will need to know anyway, when it comes to school trips and other things.

Re: the food, just ask for a breakdown of charges. I suspect it will be for toast & jam at breaktime. 60p per day sounds fairly typical. Send her with her own snack instead.

£2.41 is less than the charge for school lunches - schools frequently make a loss. The roll out of FSM to all primary school kids in London hit budgets pretty hard.

However I don’t think the school should charge the difference. Ours sucked it up.

OP are you ordering the toast through ParentPay. If you don’t pay does she still get it?

@Unbloched
Unfortunately the £2.41 comes nowhere near paying the full,cost of food, staffing, non consumables, cleaning, (and energy if the school caters in house) . All of the providers in our locality charge more than this and we still have the on-costs to find. We make a loss on every FSM.

For my DD who is 4 and in YR, we get free milk and free school meals. We pay for breakfast club (7.30a drop off with an extra £2 breakfast) £5/day and £8.50/day for afterschool club that includes tea.

The free school meals only include the midday lunch but you "may" be able to get free school milk as well if the school participates.