Dear parent/guardian,

In these difficult times there will be some parents whose income fluctuates and may well pass the threshold for eligibility for their child to have free school meals. At Hall Cross Academy we have enrolled in a programme which automatically alerts us to this eligibility as soon as it happens.

You only need to register your details once and the system, which regularly checks for changes in income via government databases, will alert us to provide your son(s)/daughter(s) with free school meals.

Although the school is not currently open, students that are entitled to free school meals are receiving electronic vouchers to be used in local stores.

In order for us to do this for you, you need to be signed up to our OFSM database and give permission for us to complete the regular checks. Registration will take less than 5 minutes.

You can sign up online and the web address for the form is: https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/ofsm/sims

Before you start you will need:

• Your own name and date of birth
• Contact details
• National Insurance Number or National Asylum Seekers Number
• Child’s name and date of birth

If you require help in completing the form please contact me by clicking here.

In addition to the benefit of your child(ren) receiving free school meals, Hall Cross Academy receives additional funding of over £900 per year for all children who have qualified for free school meals within the last 6 years. Details of how we spend this money to enhance students’ learning is published on our website in the section on Pupil Premium.

The data that you provide will only be used to check against the government held information in relation to free school meals and will not be passed onto any third party. This is in line with our data protection policy which can be found here.

I would like to thank you in advance for registering your details and wish you all well in these uncertain times.

N Thompson
Associate Assistant Principal