PARENTS can help their child’s school by registering them for free school meals thanks to the government’s Pupil Premium scheme.
Each school will receive £600 in extra funding for each child who is registered for free school meals or has been registered for free school meals during the past six years.
Headteacher at Isaac Newton Primary Stephen Tapley said he supports any proposal which bridges the gap and hopes parents will sign up.
He said: “We use the additional money to provide activities for our children that they might not normally have the opportunity to experience at home.
“Now that most schools provide hot meals there is less of a stigma attached to claiming free school meals because you can’t tell which child is actually paying for their lunch and which child is on FSM.
“Encouraging uptake also means that those children eligible will receive a high quality, hot and nutritious midday meal.”
If enough parents take up the free school meal offer, it could bring in thousands of pounds of extra funding for local schools.
Each individual school will be left to decide how it spends the extra funding, which is designed to boost the education of children from low-income families.
Parents must sign up their child for free school meals, if eligible, as soon as possible as school census will be taken on January 19.
To sign up or for more information, log on to www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/parents/schools/free-school-meals