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Free School Meal Eligibility

The sections below summarise the Free School Meal (FSM) eligibility data collected by the Department for Education through their annual Spring Census on Pupil Characteristics in England.

The following link provides access to an interactive web map which gives summary data from the school census by sub-county geographical areas:

Interactive Map: Free School Meal Eligibility by Sub-county areas
Local FSM Dashboard (School Census Data)

Current: 33.1% of Pupils living in County Durham and attending schools in the County were eligible for FSM (Spring 20025).  Up from 23.9% in Spring 2020.

Data in this section is derived from postcode level, pupil data from the Autumn Census and covers only those pupils living in County Durham and attending schools in County Durham.  This section provides information on FSM eligibility by local areas and Family First Areas (FFA))

The following dashboard summarises these findings:

Key messages:

The Spring 2025 extract contained approximately 73,300 records of which around 2,300 were living in areas outside of the county or could not be geographically located due to incorrect/unknown postcode data.  The following is based upon the remaining 71,000 pupils who live in the county and attend schools here.

  • Around 23,500 pupils were eligible for FSM in the county in the Spring 20025 Census, representing 33.1% of all registered pupils up from 23.9% (17,200 pupils) in the Spring 2020 Census,
  • The Peterlee ward had the highest proportions of pupils eligible for FSM at 50.1%.  Of the 51 wards, 22 had higher proportions than the county average (33.1%),
  • The Horden, Peterlee and surrounding area Local Network had the highest proportion of pupils eligible for FSM at 42.6%.  Of the 12 Local Networks, 6 had higher proportions than the county average.

Summary (DfE Data)

Note: The source data for this indicator is incomplete, with data not available for all schools. The  percentage eligible has been calculated using the number of pupils on school rolls only for schools where data on the number of pupils eligible was available.

Key messages:

  • Between 2015 and 2023 the number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals increased to 31.5% rising to 23,400 eligible pupils, higher than the national figure of 24.6%,
  • Across the North East number pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals also increased to 31.2%.

Source: Department for Education – School Census

Links

Department for Education School Census: Source: Department for Education – School Census

Children in Poverty: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-201415-to-201819/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-201415-to-201819

Additional Analysis: