Free School Meals

Parents of children in secondary school have to pay for school meals unless they are receiving qualifying benefits.

To qualify for free school meals your child must be in school and you must be receiving one of the following benefits:

• Income support
• Income based Job Seekers Allowance
• Income related Employment and Support Allowance
• NASS support
• Guarantee element of State Pension
• 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 for the four weeks after employment ends
• Universal Credit, provided you have an annual net earned income of no more than £7,400
• A child over 16 getting any of these benefits is also eligible to receive free school meals.

Asylum seekers can apply for free school meals if they have a NASS number. NASS numbers are usually 9 digits and in the format of ‘YY/MM/12345’. These numbers can be followed by /001, /002, /003, etc. which identifies each individual member of the family.

How to apply

Please apply if your child attends a school in Hackney. If your child attends a school in another local authority, please apply directly to that local authority.

For further information about Free School Meals or to make an application, you can either visit Hackney Council's website directly at 

Apply for Free School Meals

or contact us directly at the school and we will be happy to discuss, advise, and provide support with your application. 

You will only need to apply for Free School Meals once because, even if you are not currently entitled to Free School Meals, if your circumstances change at a later date the DWP will automatically inform the school and your entitlement will be activated.

All staff and students have access to a free breakfast Monday to Friday from 7:45am - 8:15am in the refectory.