Pabulum Catering

Pabulum

Pabulum are our school dinner providers. Their menus have been nutritionally analysed to include some of the recommended daily intake of vitamins, protein, carbohydrates, fats and sugars for your children.  As always, they endeavour to use locally sourced foods, continuing their passion for freshly prepared home cooked dishes. 

Pabulum's menus are packed full of home cooked food, locally sourced with nutritionally balanced recipes. 

Their passion is to provide the children with a healthy understanding of fresh foods, allowing them to make informed choices with their food.

Universal Free School Meals

All our children (except Nursery) are offered a free lunch, funded by the Government.  However, for funding purposes, if your child is eligible for free school meals, could you please contact the School Office or email Free School Meal - Request Form who will be able to perform a check for you and discuss any future funding you will be entitled to.

1. The Supermarket Voucher scheme has now ended as we no longer receive funding for this – see attached email correspondence.

Croydon informed the Household Support Fund ended in March 26 and has been replaced by a new program called the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF). The new fund is strictly designed for emergency crisis support and one-off financial shocks.

The automatic Free School Meal Vouchers FSM families usually receive during school holidays have stopped after August 31, 2026. In future, families will still be able to apply for help through the new fund, but it will be based on individual financial emergencies rather than being given out automatically to all free school meal families. You can find more information and guidance on the Crisis and Resilience Fund on the Government website linked here.

2. The benefits criteria have also changed for Free School Meals. From September 2026 there will be two levels of eligibility for free school meals: Targeted Free School Meals and Expanded Free School Meals.

Targeted Free School Meals

Families may qualify for Targeted Free School Meals if they receive:

• Universal Credit and have an annual household income of less than £7,400.
• Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• The guarantee element of Pension Credit
• Meet the eligibility criteria outlined in the separate guidance below for families with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF).

Families eligible for Targeted Free School Meals will also be able to access additional support, such as the Holiday Activities and Food Programme and will attract additional Pupil Premium funding for the school.

Expanded Free School Meals

Families will qualify for Targeted Free School Meals if they receive:

• Universal Credit and have household earnings above £7,400 per year.

Families eligible for Expanded Free School Meals with receive free school meals only.

No recourse to public funds (NRPF) – Children whose parents receive the following may be entitled to free school meals:

These groups include:

• children of Zambrano carers
• NRPF families with a right to remain in the UK on grounds of private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights
• NRPF families receiving support under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989
• a subset of failed asylum seekers supported under Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• Chen carers or families holding a BN(O) passport
• spousal visa holders
• work visa holders
• student visa holders
• those with no immigration status

Under the extension of free school meal eligibility to those with NRPF, the annual household income threshold for those families able to work are:

• £31,200 per annum for families within London with one child
• £34,800 per annum for families within London with two or more children

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