Free school meals

Entitlement to free schools meals is often used as a measure of poverty and pupils who are entitled to free school meals tend, on average, to have lower levels of educational attainment than other pupils.

Overall, pupils attending nursery and primary schools in London have a higher level of entitlement (26 per cent) than the England average (16 per cent). The proportion of children entitled to free school meals is considerably higher in inner London (37 per cent) than in outer London (19 per cent).

London borough	% taking free school meals	% eligible for free meals
Tower Hamlets	43%	52%
Hammersmith and Fulham	38%	43%
Islington	35%	42%
Camden	33%	43%
Hackney	33%	39%
Westminster	33%	36%
Kensington and Chelsea	32%	39%
Lambeth	32%	37%
Southwark	28%	34%
Haringey	28%	33%
Newham	28%	33%
Greenwich	26%	33%
Wandsworth	24%	27%
Brent	24%	27%
City of London	21%	24%
London average	21%	26%
Enfield	21%	25%
Lewisham	21%	28%
Barking and Dagenham	20%	24%
Waltham Forest	20%	24%
Ealing	19%	24%
Hounslow	19%	22%
Croydon	17%	21%
Barnet	16%	20%
Harrow	15%	17%
Redbridge	14%	18%
Hillingdon	13%	18%
Sutton	10%	13%
Bromley	10%	12%
Merton	10%	12%
Havering	8%	11%
Bexley	8%	10%
Richmond upon Thames	7%	9%
Kingston upon Thames	6%	7%

Source: Schools and Pupils in England: January 2006 (Final), Table 19, DfES