As from 1st September 2022 all Reception children will be offered free school meals. This is an important step in reaching the shared ambition of ensuring that no child goes hungry while in school.
In response to the current rising cost-of-living, Welsh Government and Wrexham County Borough Council are committed to implementing this scheme quickly, and would ask for your patience as we build catering capacity to ensure a successful phased implementation, and work towards a whole primary school roll-out over the next three years. We hope to be able to extend the offer to pupils in Year 1 and Year 2 by April 2023; however, this will be confirmed in due course.
Schools in Wrexham County Borough Council use the Parent Pay system, which allows parents to pre-order lunches for their child(ren). Whilst all children in Reception will be entitled to a free school meal, the meal will need to be pre-ordered via this system. Further information on the Parent Pay system and meal booking process will follow.
We would like to remind you that Welsh Government allocate the Pupil Development Grant funding based on income-based eligibility to free school meals. Whilst the intention is to have a universal offer of free school meals to all primary aged pupils within the next three years, it is very important that parents who are in receipt of eligible benefits and support payments make an application to the Local Authority if they have not previously done so. Making this application will allow eligible parents to access the monies to help towards the costs of your child’s school uniform and equipment, and will also ensure that our school receives the correct amount of funding from Welsh Government. Only families who receive the applicable benefits and support payments will be able to access this funding, and you will need to have made an application for free school meals first. Please rest assured that if your child is currently in receipt of free school meals and/or any other associated benefits, in all primary school years, these will not be affected. You only need to make a new application for free school meals if you receive one of the eligible benefits and support payments, and have not made an application for your child previously. In most cases, this will be the parents of children who are about to move into Reception.
The criteria and application form for free school meals outside of the ‘universal offer’ can be found online at https://www.wrexham.gov.uk/service/school-meals/free-school-meals. Remember, you only need to make a new application for your child if you receive one of the listed benefits or support payments, and have not made an application previously.
The application form for the Pupil Development Grant, which helps eligible parents with the costs of a child’s school uniform and equipment, can be found here https://www.wrexham.gov.uk/service/pupil-development-grant-pdg