Universal Infant Free School Meals – Census Information
Funding for Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) for the third term of the
academic year 2014 - 2015 will be based on actual take-up data derived from
an average of the October 2014 and January 2015 Schools Censuses and the
payment for this term will be adjusted accordingly.
Therefore it is important that on both 2nd October 2014 and the
15th January 2015, schools encourage as many pupils as possible to take up the
offer of a school lunch.
Ideas to encourage take up on Census Days include:
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Send out newsletters and website reminders to parents about Universal Infant
Free School Meals especially for any parents that have yet to register
Ensure all pupils, especially Reception aged pupils, are in school for lunch
Work with your meal provider or school catering manager to have pupils most
popular meal choice on the menu for that day to maximise up-take
Hold a 'Theme Day' or 'Special Event' - tie the theme into a curriculum topic
Invite parents and carers in for lunch
Ask teaching staff to eat school lunch in the dining hall with pupils
Introduce a 'Top Table' during that week, and from then on.
Revenue Funding for the first and second term will be based on a rate of £2.30 for
each child newly eligible for UIFSM. Allocation has been calculated on pupil data
from the January 2014 Schools Census as well as planning assumptions that:
1. 87% of newly eligible pupils will take meals, and
2. Those pupils will take 190 school meals in the course of a full academic
year.
For the financial year 2015 to 2016, the same criteria currently used to assess FSM
eligibility (i.e. receipt of qualifying benefits) will continue to be used to assess
whether a pupil qualifies for the pupil premium (£1300 per child at present). Data on
FSM-eligible pupils will continue to be collected by the department annually, through
the School Census (for mainstream settings) and the Alternative Provision census
(for non-mainstream settings).
For more information on the census dates please visit the DfE school census 2014 to
2014 document (annex C page 75) or for advice on how schools can increase take
up and safeguard pupil premium funding go to: UIFSM Toolkit
DFE School Census guidance - Unusual Circumstances
If unusual circumstances impact on census day, (e.g. severe weather conditions or
religious observances) then schools may find that the numbers of pupils who are not
present on that day is abnormally high. Where the number of ‘school lunches taken’
is affected, then a day and time when the situation can be regarded as normal
should be selected. Schools may interpret this literally as the next normal day or as
an earlier day in census week or the previous Thursday, if that reflects the normal
situation. On occasions where other days/times are used, schools should record
these for audit purposes.
Please note:
Due to the introduction of the Free School Meals Initiative, SCC has decided that in
order to reduce pressure of paperwork on schools, we will no longer be collecting
Free School Meal figures from schools. Instead, we will be asking schools to provide
their figures across one week in March, so that we can still get a representative
figure.