Free School Meals
Lunches for all infant aged pupils are free under the Universal Free School Lunch scheme.
However some of our families are also entitled to a benefit called Free School Meals.
This gives eligibility for Pupil Premium funding which is used by the school to fund valuable support like extra tuition, additional teaching staff or after school activities. Please follow the link to see our Pupil Premium page for further information on how the school spends the pupil premium funding it receives.
https://www.stmarysfinchley.co.uk/pupil-premium/
Any pupil eligible for Free School Meals will be protected until 31st March 2022, meaning that this may continue into the junior school where you would normally start to pay for your child’s lunches.
Your child may be able to get free school meals if you get any of the following:
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- The guaranteed element of Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
- Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
- Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)
Children who get paid these benefits directly, instead of through a parent or guardian, can also get free school meals.
If you fit any of the above criteria and therefore think you may be eligible, then you can check by going online to
and clicking on “Check Eligibility”.
You will need a USO Account. If you applied to our school through e-admissions you will already have one of these and can use the same user name and password. Everyone else can set up a new account, and the system will guide you through the process.
Through your USO Account, you can then link all your children to the account (regardless of which school they go to). Once checked the school will then be able to see your status, and will add your name to the list of those eligible. As a thank you for taking the time to make the check, LGFL (London Grid for Learning) are offering free Antivirus software to use at home, regardless of the outcome.
If you have any problems with the process, please use the FAQ section of the website in the first instance as this will answer any questions you may have.