Free school dinners

[OldAndWornOut]

How do they work with your child's school please?

Do I need to add top up money so that my boy has extra choices, or does eligibility means he has whatever is on the menu?

I can't find any relevant information on Google, or the school's website.

How do others pay for theirs? Ours get a certain amount added to their dinner card although I'm not entirely sure how much

Thank you, yes, that's what I meant.

Its so confusing!

All the info I can find says it varies from place to place and school to school.

I suppose i'll have to phone his school and ask. I feel embarrassed at not having some kind of inbuilt knowledge.

We get 2.60 a day added to the account. Its fantastic value if your school has a long enough lunch hour for a main meal. Ours doesnt

They generally grab something they can eat on the go like a bagette.

That's a good amount.

Hope ours is similar, with a long break, then I won't have to cook at night!

At our school their account is credited with £2.40 a day which is enough to have a main course, pudding and drink. All children have a PIN number that they enter to buy dinner, it's a cashless system. So you wouldn't be able to tell if someone was on free school meals or not.

That's a good system, too.

It does seem that each school and area is different then.

Thank you. I'll have to phone and ask.

I top up DD's card occasionally, she gets £2.30 a day (I think! The costs has changed this term...) added to her card, to spend on a main meal. If she spends it on snacks then it comes out of the money I put on, it seems, rather than the FSM amount.

Christmas dinner and other occasions when she has to buy a ticket in advance are tricky, so do keep an eye on that - I have to email the school every time to get the money refunded to her account.

I work in a school kitchen, at our school the free school meal allowance is £2.35 which covers a main meal and a pudding although they can use that money however they want it is just the set meal is better value, but some kids just want something quick to eat or prefer our other choices.

Some parents do top up so that their children can have extra for morning break or get a drink.

It's great but my son spends £5-6 a day!

That's not possible with FSM.
Dd got them, it was enough for a main and dessert, though could be spent on whatever.
I didn't top it up, there were snacks at home if she wanted extra.