The Department of Education (DfE) is introducing changes to the FSM scheme from 1 September 2026 which means all students from households in receipt of Universal Credit will be entitled to receive a free school meal, regardless of their income. 

Our priority is that no eligible child misses out on support. If you feel that you may qualify, please submit an application via this link so that your eligibility can be checked.  

If your household is eligible, this will last for the whole of the academic year regardless of whether your financial circumstances change.  Eligibility will then be checked on an annual basis before each new school year. 

A student is only eligible to receive a free school meal where both a claim has been made and their eligibility has been verified by the school where they are enrolled, or to be enrolled. 

Further information

From September 2026, there will be two new categories of free school meal funding:

Targeted FSM:  students who are in households in receipt of Universal Credit with annual household earnings of £7,400 or less 

• Will receive free school meals 
• Will receive Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) vouchers 
• May also be eligible for school travel assistance
• Will be used in the calculation of Pupil Premium funding for our school

Expanded FSM: students who are in households in receipt of Universal Credit with annual household earnings of over £7,400 

• Will receive free school meals only

If your child is currently in, or joining, our Sixth Form they may qualify for free school meals, however, they will not receive other support even if they qualify for Targeted FSM.  Students may apply for bursary support from school by completing the form in the Sixth Form Bursary section below.

If you have any queries about these changes being made by the DfE, please email bursar@swbgs.com.

At Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School, we aim to use Pupil Premium funding to narrow the disadvantage gap by addressing inequalities and raising the attainment of those pupils in low-income families.

The Academy offers a range of services, including those that provide support for students with relatively low prior attainment to help ‘close the gap’. It also provides specific staff time to help monitor progress and attainment, to help ensure students have every opportunity to access the wider school curriculum and to support transition planning as the students consider GCSE, A Level and careers options.

In addition to this general support, we develop, for those pupils who attract pupil premium, an individual funding support package tailored to their needs.  This plan is developed with the active involvement of parents and students.

Parents are asked, annually, to support the school in identifying any specific needs that this funding could help directly support so as to make the most positive impact for their child in one of the following areas:

• to support full access to the school curriculum
• to enable access to school extra-curricular provision
• to improve their levels of attainment and progress

If parents have any queries during the academic year they are encouraged to contact the school via bursar@swbgs.com

This funding has been used in the provision of essential school equipment, to provide one-on-one revision sessions and to enable pupils to attend enriching educational visits.  Pupil Premium funding is administered to enable spending directly on individual plans. At this time the funding of the staff support time is financed by the school’s general budget. This provides us with the most flexibility to meet the needs of our most disadvantaged students.

Funding requests outside of the pupil’s annual plan should be submitted via email to bursar@swbgs.com.  If agreed, receipts for reimbursement are to be submitted as soon as possible.

Students eligible for funding continue to be entitled to use a guidance amount of £200 to assist with the ongoing cost of school uniform. Please be reassured that any requests will be handled in the strictest confidence.

Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School Sixth Form Bursaries are designed to help students from less well-off families to stay in the Sixth Form.    There are two categories of bursary – Vulnerable Bursaries and Discretionary Bursaries

Vulnerable bursaries are worth £1200 per annum but go to a very limited list of students – who are in care, or receive income support in their own name or are disabled and in their own name receive a support allowance and a disability living allowance.

Discretionary bursaries are funded from a limited pot made available to the school and are available to those students in receipt of free school meals or who live in families where the household taxable income is below £25,500 or in other exceptional circumstances (e.g. hardship caused by sudden changes to family circumstances).   Payments from the bursary fund are dependent on zero unauthorised absence from classes and the completion of all work and courses.   The money is intended to facilitate the purchase of text books and the other expenses of attending school such as travel and curriculum-based trips.

You can apply for a discretionary grant if you are currently entitled to free school meals or if your family’s taxable household income is less than £22,880 per annum (or was less than this figure in the tax year covered by the most recent P60) or for exceptional reasons that you must declare.

There is a simple form here to complete to apply for either form of bursary: they are linked from the bursary titles above.   The finance department will need to see documentary evidence of the entitlement to receive these awards.   This could be met with a letter from the Department of Work and Pensions about the receipt of benefits or P60 evidence (or equivalent) for total taxable income.

The completed form should be returned in a sealed envelope marked ‘Bursary application – FAO Finance’.   Information provided will be treated confidentially.   Students awarded bursaries will be paid directly into their own bank accounts.    Attendance and achievement will be checked by the Head of Sixth Form to confirm eligibility for the next payment.   A bursary is awarded for one school year and has to be renewed upon transition from Year 12 to Year 13.

If you have any questions please email bursar@swbgs.com

The Marlow Educational Foundation

People under 25 who live or were born in the parish of Great Marlow or the urban districts of Marlow, or are attending, or for not less than one year have attended, any school in that parish or urban district, are eligible to apply for a grant from the Marlow Educational Foundation.

Grants are given to individuals for a broad spectrum of educational purposes. Grants range from £200 to £700.

Contact: Chiltern Legal, 4 Chiltern Road, Marlow, Buckinghamshire SL7 2PP,

01628 472119 , admin@chilternlegal.co.uk 

The purpose of the Service Pupil Premium

Eligible schools receive the SPP so that they can offer mainly pastoral support during challenging times and to help mitigate the negative impact on service children of family mobility or parental deployment.

Mobility is when a service family is posted from one location to another, including overseas and within the UK.

Deployment is when a service person is serving away from home for a period of time. This could be a 6 to 9 month tour of duty, a training course or an exercise which could last for a few weeks.

How Service Pupil Premium differs from the Pupil Premium

The SPP is there for schools to provide mainly pastoral support for service children, whereas the Pupil Premium was introduced to raise attainment and accelerate progress within disadvantaged groups.

Schools should not combine SPP with the main Pupil Premium funding and the spending of each premium should be accounted for separately.

What could the Service Pupil Premium be used for?

In order to support the pastoral needs of service children, schools have flexibility over how they use the SPP, as they are best placed to understand and respond to the specific needs of those pupils for whom the funding has been allocated. The funding could be spent on providing a variety of means of support including counselling provision, nurture groups, e-bluey clubs etc.

How we use the Service Pupil Premium at Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School

Your service pupil premium lead  at SWBGS is Karen Harper.  Ms Harper has lived within military life for 20 years.  She has been posted to numerous places within the UK and to Cyprus.   She has a good understanding of the many wonderful ways in which being part of this exciting life is beneficial to children, but also understands that sometimes there can be more challenging times where a child might need further support. 

We use our funding to be able to offer direct pastoral support at the time of need.  We have school counsellors on site and we can signpost your child to them if they need that support.  We can also offer academic support to students who may need to catch up on missed work due to deployment R&R visits for instance. We are also able to offer practical and pastoral support during times of deployment and postings. 

Please note that this information has been taken directly from the gov.uk website