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Information for New Staters

School Meals are for Children

Starting school is an enormous event in your child’s life. Being away from home all day in new surroundings, with lots of new faces can be difficult to cope with.

School meals can help your child ‘settle in’ by making each meal time a hugely enjoyable experience.

We all remember our own school days when each lunch time offered very nutritious but often very unappetising fare. The problem was, nobody benefited from a meal that was thrown in the bin!

Although the media delights in perpetuating the myth that school meals are still about soggy cabbage and lumpy custard, the truth is very different.

Your child will enjoy selecting his or her own lunch in the modern school meals system. School meals are freshly cooked on the premises whenever possible and we now offer foods that our customers actually enjoy eating. We use high quality produce and, with children as young as four now demonstrating brand consciousness, an ever increasing number of branded goods, all with enough ‘street cred’ for even the most discerning customer.

The benefits to your child are not just short term. It is a fact that maintaining a balanced diet improves your child’s ability to learn and retain information.

Good eating habits are formed during early childhood. School meals offer your child the opportunity to learn how to interact with others during an important social occasion. They reinforce the messages that parents make about good table manners.

In addition, all children taking school meals are afforded the opportunity to take part in our fantastic fun theme events.

School Meals are for Children learning to be Adults

School Meals are for Adults

We offer excellent value for money. Where else could you buy a high quality two course meal for a similar price and know that it will be served by caring staff in a pleasant social environment?

We can save you the time and trouble of planning, shopping and preparing for packed lunches. Also, you don’t need to worry about keeping food fresh until lunchtime.

Children are constantly bombarded with enticements to eat convenience foods that are high in salts, sugars or fats. Consequently, they need a lot of encouragement if they are to eat healthily. We take a great deal of care to achieve a balance between providing food that children love to eat and making it as healthy as possible. Food is oven baked, rather than fried. Products with fewest additives are selected. The use of salt and fat is kept to a minimum and, although your child will select his or her own lunch, he or she will be encouraged by our staff to take a balanced meal and try new foods.

School meals are a great way to overcome the problems of fussy or faddy eaters.

Children are often more easily influenced by their peers than by their parents or carers. Starting school for the first time is an excellent opportunity to take advantage of this as children are particularly receptive and keen to fit in.

Food that is safe to eat!

All our suppliers are subjected to rigorous hygiene specifications. Our methods of food production have been developed in conjunction with the environmental health office. All our staff are all required to obtain the ‘Basic Food Hygiene Certificate’ and our kitchens are regularly monitored by experienced catering managers.

School Meals are for: Adults looking after Children

We can cater for children taking a vegetarian or specialist diet.
All our menus exceed the national nutritional standards.
For those children who do not like vegetables – side salads are available every day.
Our menus operate on a four week cycle. So your child should never get bored!
The menus change several times over the course of the year. Unpopular items are removed and new dishes introduced. We want to keep your child interested!
We never knowingly use genetically modified foods.