Application for Financial Assistance

Financial support

Queen Mary’s High School is a state-funded academy, which means that education is provided free of charge. However, we recognise that there are indirect costs involved in a child’s education, including the following examples:

Transport to school
Uniform
School meals
Educational visits and activities
Materials/equipment for certain subjects
Music and LAMDA Lessons

We want all students to be able to take full advantage of the opportunities available to them and want to help remove any financial barriers that could be in the way.

If you do not qualify for any of the sources of support that are covered below, we will still give consideration to individual requests for assistance.

If you require financial support, please complete this form or please email financial.assistance@qmhs.merciantrust.org.uk

The Mercian Trust has a finance team who can be contacted via:

01922 211389 or merfinance@merciantrust.org.uk

Social mobility and access to co-curricular activities

At Queen Mary’s High School, we have a wide range of co-curricular opportunities engagement in such activities is a crucial part of school life and our school ethos. As a school, we are acutely aware that there are many families who may struggle to afford the co-curricular opportunities that are open to their children which in recent years may be even more compounded by the cost-of-living crisis.

The Queen Mary’s Foundation Bursary is another avenue of support which works on a 3-tier system.

We would encourage students to apply to the Foundation if they would like support towards any co-curricular activities open to them.

Tier 1 – This would be covered through the pupil premium and financial assistance offer of support for trips and transport to school. This may be up to £100.

Tier 2 – This would require an application who would be applying for funding between £100-£500. The application would be for support towards the cost of a bigger school trip, music lessons or those who require more support than is available in Tier 1.

Tier 3 – This would require an application from the student who would be applying for funding of £500+. This could be in order to support them to partly fund expeditions and other similarly large value items or co-curricular activities and opportunities.

The application form to apply for Tier 2 or 3 levels of support can be found here: QMF Bursary Application

Pupil Premium and Free School Meals

Queen Mary’s High School is committed to social mobility and justice. Our staff and non-executives believe that every child irrespective of their background or personal circumstance is entitled to participate in every aspect of school life and achieve their full potential.

Available to Year 7 – Year 11

Pupil Premium Strategy statement

The school receives Pupil Premium funding for students who meet either of the following criteria:

Those currently in receipt of Free School Meals
Those that have been in receipt of Free School Meals within the last 6 years (known as Ever 6)

Parents in receipt of certain benefits are entitled to apply for free school meals.

This generates additional funds for the school to use to support that child’s learning in school. We always keep such information confidential and students in receipt of FSM are not singled out to their peers.

Schools receive Pupil Premium funding to support the learning of students who are entitled to Free School Meals (FSM). This funding continues for a further 6 years, even if the child is no longer entitled to receive free school meals, which is known as Ever 6.

All parents/carers who believe their child is eligible for Free School Meals should apply via the link below to Walsall Borough Council. Applications can be made online or by downloading and printing the application form and returning it to the Free School Meals Department at Walsall Council.

The link https://go.walsall.gov.uk/free_school_meals takes you to the relevant page on their website.

It is important that this is done regardless of whether the pupil has been receiving Free School Meals in their Primary School as this information does not transfer automatically to Queen Mary’s HIgh School when the pupil joins us.

The school honors those students who have been eligible for Free School Meals during Year 10 and 11 and will extend this provision throughout Year 12 and 13. Any sixth form student who was eligible for Pupil Premium and/or Free School meals is strongly encouraged to apply for the 16-19 Bursary (see here for more information).

Free School Meals – Logistics

All students who meet the criteria for Free School Meals are entitled to a free school meal up to the value of £2.60 per day. This is added to their account each day. Any unspent funds do not carry forward.

All parents/carers who believe their child is eligible should apply to Walsall Council via this link: https://go.walsall.gov.uk/free_school_meals