Free school meals
If your financial situation has been affected by COVID-19 you may now be eligible to apply for Free School Meals for your child(ren). Whilst schools are closed, families can still receive financial support for feeding children at home through a voucher scheme.
There are two ways in which you can apply for Free School Meals, depending on which year group your child is in. If you are eligible, your child(ren) will automatically qualify for Pupil Premium as well - this is additional funding school receives to support your child(ren)'s education.
For Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children, please complete the Checker Form below and return it via email to the school office. If you do not have a way of doing this electronically, please call the school office on 0117 903 0025 and we can take your details over the phone and complete the form on your behalf.
If your child is in years 3, 4, 5 or 6 you can apply for free school meals online via Bristol City Council's website here
Alternatively, you can complete and return the form below. Return your completed application form to Free School Meals Service, Bristol City Council (City Hall),PO Box 3399, Bristol, BS1 9NE.
If you do not have the facility to print this out, please call the school office on 0117 903 0025 and we can do it on your behalf.
“How to redeem” Free School Meal Vouchers Help Guide
Click to redeem your ecode at the freeschoolmeals.co.uk website. You may be placed in a virtual queue now. This queue only allows a certain number of people redeem their eCodes at any time. We have seen the queue time last anywhere between 5 minutes and 1 hour. If you are placed in the queue, please try and bear with it if you can. Importantly, do not refresh the page in your web browser as this will result in you losing your "place" in the queue and going to the back of the queue again. If you are unable to wait in the queue, please try again at another time (From our experience it seems to take less time to get access early in the morning, or in the late evening). Please note that you now have FOUR months to redeem your eCode on the website from the date it is received. If it is not redeemed in this time the code is cancelled and the money returned to the Department for Education.
Once you reach the "front" of the queue and are able to enter your 16 digit Redemption eCode you will be taken to a screen which allows you to choose which supermarket you would like to use.
Important: Once you have entered your Redemption eCode into the site, DO NOT press the "Back" button in your browser or close your browser. We have seen some parents lose access to their Redemption eCode by doing this.
If you scroll down, you can choose to redeem the available balance at the available supermarkets. Click the Supermarket you want to use and enter the value of the vouchers you would like to redeem there, then click "Add to basket". Remember, if you shop at multiple supermarkets you can split the balance between more than one if you want.
Once all your available balance has been allocated to your chosen supermarket/s, you can click the "Checkout" button.
On the checkout screen you will be asked to enter your first name, last name, email address (this can be your personal email address if you want), confirm your email address and enter a mobile phone number. Once these details are entered you can click the "Redeem" button. Please be patient on this screen, do not close it or press the "Back" button in your browser as this may cause the transaction to fail and you may lose access to your Redemption eCode.
Once the redemption process has completed successfully you will see a screen which shows an order reference number and the email address the vouchers will be sent to. Please keep a note of these details in case you experience issues receiving your vouchers later. (The easiest way is to take a screenshot of your screen on your device)
Your supermarket voucher will then be sent to the email address you entered on the checkout page. Please note that this can take up to 3 days to arrive in your inbox.
Once it arrives, you can then either take a screenshot of the voucher on your phone (make sure the Bar Code, Card Number and Pin are all clearly visible) or just open the email of the voucher when you get to the supermarket. All the vouchers are able to be spent in-store, some supermarkets allow the vouchers to also be used online. Please view the table at the bottom of this email for details.
If your voucher has not arrived after this time, please email freeschoolmealsparentscarers@edenred.com or call 0333 400 5932. You will need to provide information such as the email address you asked for the voucher to be sent to and your order reference number.
Once your supermarket voucher arrives you will have a set amount of time to spend the voucher. As the voucher is intended for you to buy food for your child to eat now during this period of enforced school closure, we recommend that you use the voucher as soon as possible, but we realise that you may not be shopping every week. Expiry dates for each supermarket are below.
Supermarket Expiry
Sainsbury’s 24 months from last transaction
Tesco 5 years from last transaction
Asda 24 months from last transaction
Morrisons 12 months expiry
Waitrose (John Lewis) 24 months from last transaction
M&S food 24 months from last transaction
Aldi 5 years from last transaction
Below is a table that lets you know if you can use the vouchers in-store or online.
Supermarket In-store Online
Sainsbury’s Yes No
Tesco Yes No
Asda Yes Yes
Morrisons Yes No
Waitrose (John Lewis) Yes Yes
M&S food Yes No
Aldi Yes No
Useful information for families
Families in Focus North Bristol has produced a comprehensive and very useful information document to support families at this difficult time - you can see this below.
Information bulletin for Families during Coronavirus - June
A Facebook page has been set up by North Bristol Children's Centre. There are lots of great links to learning at home together, support and advice.
https://www.facebook.com/northbristolcc/
Parenting is a tough job at the best of times. Sometimes it can really help to get input from professionals or to share experiences with other parents.
As a comprehensive source of information on child mental health and wellbeing, the Happy Maps website is a good place to start:
www.happymaps.co.uk
A resource for parents of children with SEN and disabilities is:
www.sendirect.org.uk/providers/information-advice-and-support-services-network/my-services/bristol-sendias-service/
For information and advice about eating well whilst at home visit the NHS Eat Well website
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bristol Speech and Language Therapists are still available to support children and families.
If you have a question or concern about your child's speech, language or communication skills, please contact us:
Telephone Advice Line: 078250 16335
Email: sirona.slt@nhs.net
You Tube: We are making new videos every week, to share tips and ideas that could help you to support your child's development, please subscribe to our You Tube playlist here: https://cutt.ly/-Top-Tips-for-Talking---Bristol-and-South-Gloucestershire-Speech-and-Language-Therapy-Team