Free School Meals Update April 9th 2020
Dear Parent/Carer,
Further to our recent letters, I am writing to confirm the NEW arrangements for provision for free school meals from the week commencing Monday 30th March following our closure to all students except those classed in government guidance as “children of keyworkers” or “most vulnerable”.
During the first 2 weeks of school closure, the Edge Academy provided families with £10 per week Sainsbury’s vouchers to the 40 eligible FSM young people we have as the local authority and national government schemes were delayed. We felt strongly as a school that we could not leave families in this potentially negative position.
Birmingham City Council have now issued 2 x weeks of a voucher scheme of £15 per week that can be redeemed at supermarkets. These £15 per week vouchers can be redeemed online and schools receive the codes for them weekly directly for distribution to families.
What this means to you as families, is that the supply of the free school meal vouchers WILL NOW come from your son/daughter’s HOME SCHOOL that made the referral to us at the Edge for the placement. We have made contact with each home school who are in receipt of free school meal vouchers to make them fully aware of the need for them to distribute these to you.
Please do get in touch or let us know if this is not happening during your regular welfare call by a member of Edge staff and we will contact the home school on your behalf to resolve this.
Our safeguarding commitment to our students (and their families) no longer attending school remains as strong as ever. Don’t forget that if you have any safeguarding queries during this unprecedented period of school closure, the e-mail addresses for the safeguarding team, which are monitored around the clock, every day, are below:
The Edge Safeguarding Team – [email protected]
Adam Smith (Designated Safeguarding Lead and Vice Principal) – [email protected]
A reminder too that you are also able to report any safeguarding concerns to the following:
Childrens’ Services 0121 303 1888
NSPCC 0808 800 5000
Yours faithfully,
Adam Smith
Vice Principal