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Pupils on free meals at £4,500 a year ‘prep' schools

Some pupils at prep schools are eligible to receive free meals every day<br />&nbsp;
Some pupils at prep schools are eligible to receive free meals every day
 
Some pupils at prep schools are eligible to receive free meals every day
 

PREP school pupils, whose primary education is costing their parents up to £4,500 a year, are receiving daily free dinners.

The free school meal (FSM) scheme is designed to help ease the financial burden on families - but some children at schools with the highest fees are also benefitting.

In the last school year, children at nine of the north's 13 preps were eligible.

FSM entitlement is the simplest and most common measure of social disadvantage in schools. Meals are usually provided to children whose parents receive benefits or whose family income is less than £16,190.

Fees at preparatory schools, which are attached to non-Catholic grammar schools and tend to have by far the most socially advantaged intake, range from about £3,500 to £4,500 per pupil each year.

The proportion in receipt of FSM at preps are considerably smaller than the percentage eligible across all primary schools, however.

In 2014/15, there were a total of 165,548 children in P1-7 of whom 52,746 were FSM eligible - 31.9 per cent.

In prep departments, there were 17 FSM eligible children out of 1,813 total pupils - 0.9 per cent.

There are some non-financial reasons why a child may be entitled to FSM.

Among those eligible are children with statements of special educational needs who are designated to require a special diet.

Only children at SEN stage 5 have statements. Four of the prep schools at which children receive FSM have no pupils at stage 5.