Free School Meals funding in school holidays (state funded schools)

As previously advised, Shropshire Council has been allocated additional funding through the Household Support Fund (HSF7) for the 12 month period,1 April 2025 – 31 March 2026.  This means that we are able to extend the arrangements for the provision of support with food costs outside of term time to fund benefits-related FSM pupils (including 24U and EYPP children who are in a school nursery class). Funding will be provided for the Easter holidays 2025 (2 weeks), Summer half term 2025 (1 week), Summer holidays 2025 (6 weeks, this was previously 3 weeks), Autumn half term 2025 (1 week), Christmas 2025 (2 weeks), Spring half term 2026 (1 week) and Easter holidays 2026 (2 weeks).

HAF - The Holiday Activities and Food Programme allows children and young people aged 4 (in reception class) to 16, who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals (FSM) and for those who have been referred by a professional to access free holiday activity, during the Spring/Easter, Summer and Winter/Christmas school holidays.  For more information on the programme and to find out how to book onto activity, please go to - www.shropshire.gov.uk/HAF

There is further support for families who are concerned about the cost of living via Shropshire Council website link Cost of living help | Shropshire Council

For the Summer holidays 2025, funding is provided for 6 weeks support, £90 per eligible pupil.

There have been no changes to the previous arrangements – Y11 and Y13 students are still included. 

Schools using Edenred

The account will be open for schools to place orders between Monday 7 July and Friday 18 July, after this date the account will be locked.  If a school needs to place an additional order, please contact FSM@shropshire.gov.uk in the first instance.

There is no need to advise us of your numbers as we can pick this up from the Edenred system.

Schools need to include their school name in the URN field using the following format: 1schoolname (no spaces). If you have problems with this please revert to using your URN number.

Please can all schools set the delivery date for the eCodes as Wednesday 16 July (or three days prior to your end of term).  This will allow time for parents/carers to contact school if there is a problem with their eCode/email address before school closes.

Parents/carers have 2 months to redeem their eCodes into a voucher (this has been reduced from 3 months).  30 days before expiry Edenred send out a reminder once a week automatically.  If a parent/carer hasn’t redeemed their eCode in that time, they can’t be re-issued. The food vouchers are provided to support eligible pupils during each specific school holiday period and should therefore be redeemed by the parent/carer as soon as possible.

 Important reminders:

• If a parent/carer’s email address has changed on an order you have placed, please complete the Edenred eCode Redirection Form (attached) and return to Edenred (do not cancel the order unless advised by Edenred).
• Parents/carers are directed to contact their school in the first instance for help with queries. If school is unable to assist the parent/carer, this can be escalated to Edenred customer services at freeschoolmeals@edenred.com or call 0333 400 5932.
• Edenred portal user guide for school administrators https://www.edenred.co.uk/Documents/Select/clients/SelectGrocery-FSM-Admin-Userguide.pdf
• For changes to a school account, for example a change to the school email address or the name of the person on the account who places the order, please email those changes to FSM@shropshire.gov.uk

Schools who receive funding via the LA

For those schools who don’t use Edenred, please complete the following online form by Friday 11 July FSM funding in school holidays - Schools who receive funding via the LA | Shropshire Learning Gateway (shropshirelg.net) so that we can arrange payment to be made to your school. NB: Please ensure that the total number provided includes any eligible nursery aged children attached to your school.  Once you have notified us of your numbers, please then order your vouchers via your usual method.  Please note, if you don’t complete the form to advise of numbers we will be unable to process payment.

Thank you for your submission of teacher assessment data for

• Early Years Foundation Stage Profile
• Year 1 Phonics (including any Year 2 re-checks)

Summary reports of the data are now available within Perspective Lite and we ask that schools take this opportunity to check both headline and pupil level reports to ensure the data for your school is accurate in advance of our final submission to DfE. If we do not hear from you by the end of term we will assume the data is correct and we will include it in Shropshire’s submission to DfE.

You can access Perspective Lite via the following link. The username is the schools URN number.

https://perspective.angelsolutions.co.uk/perspective/login.aspx

For those schools who can’t log in please either follow the ‘forgotten password option’ or contact the Perspective Lite team directly who will then resend your login details. The contact details for that team is perspectivesupport@angelsolutions.co.uk

Local Authority and an ‘emerging’ National average will be accessible across all key stages. Please note the ‘emerging’ National is unofficial at this stage but can be used as a guide only. Published National data for EYFS and Phonics will be released in the Autumn term.

Any queries with your data please get in touch.

Regards

Emma

I am writing to share an opportunity that may be of interest. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is currently looking for schools and settings to take part in research projects, spanning across Early Years, Primary, Secondary and 16-19.

Focused mainly on the themes of writing and maths, projects have been selected based on their potential to positively impact the attainment of socio-economically disadvantaged pupils. These include:

·       Action Tutoring’s secondary maths programme, in which trained volunteers lead targeted tutoring sessions in Years 7, 10 and 11, using bespoke workplans developed by curriculum experts.

·       The Power of Reading, a professional development programme delivered by The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, supporting Year 5 teachers to create a high-quality English curriculum.

·       Mastering Number at Reception and KS1, a whole class programme delivered by NCETM, aiming to develop children’s fluency and flexibility with number through short weekly sessions.

Over half of schools in England have taken part in an EEF project, helping discover what works to improve student outcomes. Join them in contributing to the evidence base by searching your setting to find out which projects are available to you.

NB - See note below from SHaW maths hub re. Mastering Number

SENDIASS Youth Voice Support – Now Available in Schools

We’re pleased to share that our Youth Worker, Lynne, is available to work directly with children and young people to support them in having their voices heard.

Lynne can work on a one-to-one or small group basis, helping young people to:

• Share their views in a way that feels accessible and meaningful
• Create ‘About Me’ pages or other person-centred tools
• Develop confidence in expressing their wishes and feelings
• Strengthen their contribution to SEN Support or EHCP processes

Lynne works on Mondays and is happy to visit schools or connect virtually, depending on what works best.

If you have a young person who might benefit from this support, or if you’d like to explore how this offer could fit within your setting, please get in touch at iass@cabshropshire.org.uk

Please share this information with parents, carers, teams, colleagues and your wider networks

The Parenting Team will be delivering free Understanding Your Child and Understanding Your Child SEND – from toddler to teens - groups from September/October 2025 (poster attached).

These 10 week groups aim to:

•             Promote understanding of children’s behaviour within the context of developmental issues

•             Promote the development of parent/child relationship

•             Increase confidence and self-esteem in both parents and children

•             Give parents a strategy for repair when things go wrong

•             Promote reflective, sensitive and effective parenting

We are also offering free SLEEP TIGHT groups from September 2025 (poster attached).

These 5 week workshops cover:

•             Recognising the role of sleep hygiene to improve sleep

•             Identifying causes of sleep issues and appropriate practical strategies to try

•             Completing sleep diaries and identifying potential sleep issues

I have also included our poster to promote our Parenting Help and Support Line.

If you can, please share the links to our webpage with further information on free online courses and other offers from the parenting team.

The Parenting Team | Shropshire Council

The Parenting Team | Shropshire Council (Local Offer/SEND)

Please do not hesitate to contact us directly if you have any questions or need the posters in a different format

parenting.team@shropshire.gov.uk or give us a call on 01743 250950

Kind regards

Parenting Team

Tel: 01743 250950

As part of the Local Youth Transformation Fund (LYTF) pilot, we are working to better understand what young people in Shropshire need from local services, activities, and support. The LYTF is a government-funded programme aiming to improve how youth services are delivered in selected areas across England.

To support this, we’ve launched a short, anonymous Young People’s Survey and would greatly appreciate your help in encouraging participation.

Survey link: 👉 Young Persons Flyer (with barcode) flyer attached.  Social Media Post is also attached too and we would value if this could be shared on your social media channels.

The survey takes just 5–10 minutes to complete and covers participation in youth services, barriers to engagement, and areas where young people may want more support.

We’d be grateful if you could share this via:

Tutor/form time or assemblies

School newsletters or parent bulletins

Social media channels, direct emails to students or student Teams channels. 

The survey is open until 11th July 2025.

Thank you for helping young people have a voice in shaping their future.

Best regards,