MCAS Payments & Free School Meals
Upton Court Grammar School uses Bromcom MyChildAtSchool (MCAS) for school payments.
Parents and carers should use MCAS to make payments for:
- school meals;
- trips and visits;
- school resources and other items;
- yearbooks; and
- other chargeable school activities.
MCAS can be accessed through the MyChildAtSchool app or online using the MCAS Parent Portal.
Paying for School Meals
Parents and carers can view their child’s current dinner money balance and add funds through MCAS.
Using the MCAS app
- Log in to MCAS.
- Go to My Child → Dinner.
- Your child’s available dinner money balance will be displayed.
- Select Add Dinner Money.
- Enter the amount you would like to add.
- Select Add to Basket.
- Proceed to Checkout and follow the on-screen instructions to complete your payment.
Using MCAS online
On the desktop version of MCAS, locate the Dinner Money widget on your dashboard. Enter the amount you wish to add and select Add to Basket. Open your shopping basket and proceed to checkout to complete the payment.
Please keep your dinner money balance topped up
Please check your child’s dinner money balance regularly to ensure that sufficient funds are available for school meals.
MCAS will send an automated notification each day if your child’s account balance falls below £5.00.
To avoid receiving these notifications, please ensure that the balance remains at £5.00 or above.
Paying for School Trips and Visits
School trips and visits are also paid for through MCAS.
When a trip is available for your child:
- Log in to MCAS.
- Select Trips from the MCAS menu.
- Find the relevant trip for your child.
- Select the magnifying glass to view further information about the trip.
- Select the appropriate payment option.
- Add the payment to your Basket.
- Open your basket and proceed to Checkout.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to complete your payment.
Depending on how an individual trip has been set up, you may be able to pay the full amount, pay a deposit or make payments by instalments. The options and relevant payment dates will be displayed within MCAS.
Paying for Other School Items
Other items available to purchase through MCAS may be displayed within the School Shop/Online Payments area. The items available will depend on what the school has made available for purchase.
Select the required item, add it to your basket and proceed to checkout to complete payment.
More Than One Child at UCGS?
If you have more than one child at Upton Court Grammar School, you do not need a separate MCAS account for each child.
Your children can be accessed through your single MCAS parent account, and you can switch between them as required. Please make sure that you have selected the correct child before making a payment.
Bromcom: Add Dinner Money using MCAS online
Bromcom: Add Dinner Money using the MCAS app
Our Restaurant
Healthy Eating
Our meal provision is based on the use of fresh, high quality and local ingredients wherever possible using regionally sourced fresh meat and poultry and local vegetables when in season. We use trusted suppliers who are able to provide details on the provenance of produce supplied e.g. Red Tractor Food Standards or British Retail Consortium (BRC) Global Standards approved, with meals cooked in the school kitchen fresh each day.
We support the Government’s strategy on ethical and sustainable farming. Our menus comply with the School Food Standards. We offer plenty of choices, with menus rotating on a three-week cycle. Dishes are high in fibre, low in salt and saturated fat and mostly baked rather than fried.
Our chefs are happy to provide for special diets including vegetarian and vegan, religious requirements and gluten-free/coeliac. We can also provide special menus for students with food allergies.
Free School Meals
Am I eligible for benefit related free school meals?
The new eligibility criteria for free school meals will be come in to affect from the 1st September 2026. You will be able to claim free school meals for your child if you receive one of the following benefits:
- Universal Credit
- support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- are in receipt of income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- receive the guarantee element of Pension Credit
- meet criteria set out in separate guidance for families with no recourse to public funds.
Universal Credit eligibility changes
From the 01/09/2026 FSM eligibility is expanding to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit regardless of household earnings. There will be 2 categories of eligibility for families in receipt of Universal Credit. The 2 categories Targeted and Expanded Eligible.
Universal Credit targeted FSM eligibility
Children from households in receipt of Universal Credit with annual household earnings of £7,400 or less (the existing threshold for FSM prior to the expansion), will be eligible for targeted FSM. In addition to receiving free meals, pupils eligible for targeted FSM will attract pupil premium and other disadvantage funding for their schools. Other education entitlements that have previously been linked to eligibility for FSM, such as the Holiday Activities and Food program (HAF) and the ‘extended rights’ element of school travel assistance, will also continue to be based on targeted FSM.
Universal Credit expanded FSM eligibility
Children from households in receipt of Universal Credit, with annual household earnings exceeding £7,400 will be entitled to expanded FSM (meals only).
Annual checks
Protection of free school meals eligibility will end on 31/08/2026, this means that your child / children could fall out of eligibility. Your child / children’s school would carry out a re-check automatically. Please contact your child / children’s schools about their policy on re-checking free school meal applications as a minimum, re-checks should be carried out annually; this could be more frequently, depending on your child’s school’s free school meals policies. If a re-check is not carried out on or before the end of the free school meals eligibility period, your child will not receive free school meals.
To apply online through the Slough Borough Council
Free School Meals – Slough Borough Council
Application form for Free School Meals Click: HERE
