Click on the links to access information about school lunch time, including
We pride ourselves on the family feel in each of our schools and lunchtimes are an important part of this.
Older children sit with our younger pupils to model good table manners and help them with their food. Our staff regularly eat with the children as part of our care and commitment to their well-being.
We know that happy children with full tummies can better focus on their learning. We listen to our pupils and take their suggestions for our menus on board. We cater for vegetarian and vegan diets and can adapt our menu to ensure children with specific requirements can still enjoy a healthy, home cooked lunch at school.
We source local ingredients where possible, including some we grow ourselves at school! Our meat comes from Drake and Macefield butchers and all our suppliers comply with food standards, including allergens.
Please let us know if your child has any dietary requirements and alert us immediately if your child has a food allergy or intolerance.
Free School Meals
Free school meals are available to those children whose parents are in receipt of one or more of the following benefits:
- Universal Credit (provided that you have an annual net income of no more than £7,400, as assessed by earnings from up to three of your most recent assessment periods)
- Income Support
- Income-based Job Seekers’ Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- The Guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit, but not also Working Tax Credit, and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190 as assessed by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs
- Working Tax Credit during the four-week period immediately after your employment finishes or after you start to work less hours per week.
The school will also be able to claim Pupil Premium for these children, which will help to ensure that the school receives all the Government funding to which it is entitled.
To apply for free school lunches please click here.
If your child is eligible for and has been registered to receive free school meals between 1st April 2018 and the end of the rollout of Universal Credits (currently expected to be March 2023), they will remain eligible until they finish the phase of schooling (primary or secondary) they are in at the end of Universal Credits rollout. This is regardless of any change to your circumstances during this time.
Packed lunches can contribute to almost a third of a child’s weekly food intake and therefore need to be balanced and nutritious. Our aim is to ensure that packed lunches brought in from home reflect the standards for school meals.
The contents of lunchboxes can be extremely unhealthy and may contain foods with high levels of fat, sugar and salt, and very few fruit and vegetables.
Ideally, children’s packed lunches should include items from the 5 main food groups:
- Bread, Rice, Potatoes, Pasta
- These starchy foods are a healthy source of energy. Packed lunches should include 2 or more portions eg pasta or rice salad, sandwich.
- Fruit and Vegetables
- These foods provide vitamins, minerals and fibre. Lunches should include at least 1 portion of fruit and 1 portion of vegetables/salad, or more e.g. carrot/cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes, a piece of fruit.
- These foods provide calcium for healthy bones and teeth. Include 1 portion at lunch e.g. yoghurt, cheese or fromage frais.
- Meat, Fish, Eggs, Beans
- These foods provide protein for growth. Packed lunches should include 1 portion of these foods e.g. meat as a filling in sandwich, mixed bean salad.
- Only water should be included in packed lunches. There are jugs of water on the lunch tables for children to help themselves.
Please do not include the following items in a packed lunch
- Fizzy Pop/Fruit shoots
- Chocolate bars
A choice of only one (not one each) of the following is recommended per day:
- A cake bar
- Packet of lower calorie crisps
- Biscuit (included chocolate coated biscuit)
***DO NOT INCLUDE ANYTHING CONTAINING NUTS – OUR SCHOOLS ARE ALL NUT FREE ***