Parents of children eligible for free school meals say they receive less information from schools than families of children who are not eligible, unless it is about their child’s behaviour.

The findings of a survey conducted for the Department for Education, released today, show that the biggest perceived gap concerned information about their child’s progress at school.

A total of 66 per cent of parents or carers of children eligible for FSM said their school communicated with them about this, compared with 86 per cent of those whose children who are not eligible for FSM.

FSM parents and carers also reported receiving less information about school activities, changes to school policies, school performance and the curriculum.

Informed about behaviour

However, when asked about their child’s behaviour, 61 per cent of FSM parents and carers said they received communications from their school, compared with 57 per cent of non-FSM parents and carers.

However, the report described this finding as “not statistically significant”.

The survey was carried out by Kantar Public on behalf of the DfE between 23 November last year and 16 January this year, with 1,595 parents or carers taking part.

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