As part of the COVID Winter Grant Scheme allocation we needed to find the best method of helping the most vulnerable children in the Borough.
It has been decided that a voucher during the school breaks would be the best method. A company called WONDE has been chosen based on its ability to actively provide 18 thousands schools thus far.
With the national lockdown approaching, Wonde created and launched a free school meal voucher system on the 21st March to help schools deliver FSM provisions during school closures.
Over 4,000 schools signed up to the new system within 48 hours, almost two weeks ahead of the initial launch of the government funded Edenred platform.
Although Edenred was available to all schools, many continued to use the Wonde system throughout lockdown, over the summer and into the current academic year.
Wonde’s system provided a direct route to sending vouchers to parents by text message as well as email, through using our direct MIS integration. Schools were able to easily assign vouchers to parents as they were able to instantly see:
? Which students were eligible for free school meals.
? Who their parents were and their contact details.
Although the free school meal voucher system successfully worked for schools during the previous academic year, Schoolvouchers.com was launched to provide additional functionality for schools and to help parents keep track of the vouchers they receive.
Parents are able to choose from a range of supermarkets, these include:
? Asda
? Aldi
? Morrisons
? Sainsburys
? Tesco
? Iceland
? McColls
? Waitrose
The cost to the council is simply the cost of the voucher that is allocated to the individual and any vouchers not taken or expired will result in a refund direct to HBC.
Daily Webinars are available and full support to schools.