School Dinners
Hot School Dinners
At St. Andrew’s we carefully develop our school dinner menus in line with the School Food Plan. These are mandatory standards from the Department for Education, to help school catering teams to create menus that are imaginative and nutritious.
More information can be found on the School Food Plan website.
Good reasons to choose a school lunch
There are many reasons why you should choose a hot school dinner for your child.
Our school dinners:
- are prepared on site by catering staff who are thoroughly trained in all aspects of food hygiene and health and safety regulations;
- will help your child to concentrate during lessons and recharge their energy;
- encourage healthy eating habits;
- provide up to three of your child's five a day portions of fruit and vegetables;
- are a great way for children to try new foods and develop tastes for different foods;
- offer a daily selection and choice of freshly cooked main meals, salads, desserts, fresh fruit and yoghurt;
- offer vegetarian options every day;
- can cater for any special cultural or dietary requirements; we work closely with parents and teachers to make sure that each child can enjoy a hot, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime;
- help children to have the confidence to make choices;
- help children to develop social skills by eating and relaxing with others;
- take away the responsibility of providing a packed lunch.
Meals are planned around a three week menu cycle, meeting all Government–legislated dietary requirements for schools. Children can take any meal for any number of days with no pre-booking or notice period, meaning that parents and carers can mix and match hot school meals and packed lunches to suit their child’s food tastes. Special dietary requirements and allergies can be accommodated. Please ask for a meeting with our Kitchen Manager, Mrs. Chamberlin, to discuss this.
Whilst we encourage all children to have a hot school meal, if your child prefers to bring a packed lunch to school then please have a look at the links below, which suggest lots of delicious and healthy packed lunch options, which will ensure that all children have the energy required to work and play in the school day afternoon.
Healthy Packed Lunch ideas
http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/healthy-lunchbox-picnic.aspx
http://www.netmums.com/family-food/food-for-kids/lunchbox-ideas
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/school-packed-lunch-inspiration
https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/collections/kids-lunchbox-recipes.html
Universal Free School Meals (Foundation, Year 1, Year 2)
Under Government Legislation, every child in KS1 (Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2) is entitled to a free school dinner every day. However, if you are in receipt of certain qualifying benefits, we ask that you still complete a Free School Meal application form as this will identify your child as a Pupil Premium recipient. Our school receives additional funding for every child identified as Pupil Premium which is used to further the learning experience of these children.
You can apply online via the Devon County Council website, by following this link: Devon Citizen Portal
Buying School Dinners (Years 3 – 6)
School meals are paid for using our online Parent Pay system and children are issued with coloured wristbands every lunchtime, denoting whether they are having a meat or vegetarian meal. On enrolment at St. Andrew's, children and their families are provided with all of the information they need to set up their own Parent Pay accounts.
*If you think your child might be entitled to Free School Meals, please apply using this link*
