Pupil Premium and Free School Meals

Applying for Free School Meals

Free School Meals are changing from September 2026

Important changes are being made to Free School Meals (FSM) eligibility, which will take effect from September 2026.

Please note: more children will now be eligible for Free School Meals, and all children wishing to apply for free school meals must be assessed under the new criteria before the start of the new academic year.

The school-specific link to apply for Free School Meals is here:

2026-27 Free School Meals Application - Newstead Wood School – Fill in form

What’s changing?

Under new national rules, all families receiving Universal Credit will qualify for Free School Meals. This means more children will become eligible.

From 1 September 2026, there will be two categories of FSM eligibility:

1. Targeted Eligibility

• Applies to children in households receiving Universal Credit with annual earnings of £7,400 or less.
• Pupils in this category will:
  • Qualify for Free School Meals
  • Enable schools to receive additional Pupil Premium funding
  • Be considered for other support, such as extended school travel assistance

2. Expanded Eligibility

• Applies to children in households receiving Universal Credit with annual earnings above £7,400.
• Pupils in this category will:
  • Qualify for Free School Meals only
  • Not attract Pupil Premium funding

Important information

• Any existing transitional protection for Free School Meals will end in July 2026.
• The Department for Education (DfE) have advised that all children must be assessed under the new criteria before the start of the new academic year.

What you need to do

To make sure your child’s eligibility is assessed in time, we strongly encourage you to complete and submit a short application form, using the link provided by your child’s school, for each child as soon as possible.

The Council will use this information to assess eligibility and share the outcome with you and your child’s school.

Key deadline

• Forms submitted by 17 July 2026 are guaranteed to be processed before the new school year
• Applications received after this date will still be assessed, but outcomes may not be available before September

Thank you for your cooperation in helping ensure all children who are entitled to Free School Meals receive them.

If you have any questions, please contact: fsm@bromley.gov.uk

Pupil Premium

The pupil premium is additional funding provided to state funded schools in England. The aim is to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children. Evidence has shown that students from deprived backgrounds underachieve compared to their non‐deprived peers. The premium is provided in order to support these students to enable them to reach their full potential. 

Pupils eligible to receive this funding are those who have been entitled to free school meals within the last six years and children in care or looked after, including children who have been adopted from care. 

At Newstead Wood, we recognise the importance of using PP funding effectively in order to raise students’ attainment and enable them to reach their full potential. 

See below for our PP strategy and expenditure reports demonstrating how we aim to achieve this.