Dear Parents

 

As detailed in our previous letter today, the guidance on free school meals is as follows

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools

 

As a school we are considering the supermarket school voucher system (see below)

 

Supermarket vouchers

 

We are currently developing a national approach to providing support through supermarket and shop vouchers. We will provide further details shortly.

 

If your school is closed and your school catering team cannot provide meals or food parcels, you should offer families of pupils eligible for free school meals an alternative.

 

You can order supermarket and shop vouchers directly from a number of retailers – usually through their corporate division. We recommend sourcing vouchers for supermarkets or shops in the local area. Where possible they should be restricted for use against age-related products.

 

You’ll get a choice of:

e-vouchers (where available) - which you can email directly to parents

gift cards - which may be more suitable if parents do not have access to the internet

 

You should check which pupils are eligible and currently in receipt of free school meals, and vouchers should be made available to the parent or the adult with caring responsibility for that child.

 

Please be patient and refrain from contacting us regarding Free School Meals. We will provide more information. We are taking this seriously and it is important that we provide a comprehensive response.

 

We will release more guidance as we receive further updates and clarification from the government. In the mean time we will continue to ensure we are making work available for students who are not in school as well as deliver the best possible provision for those who are in. I appreciate the fact that any closure will have an impact on you and your family.

 

Kind regards

 

Les Milton 

Headteacher