We are a NUT FREE SCHOOL

School Meals

Hot meals are cooked on site and are provided by Total Catering Solutions; meals conform to the government healthy standards and cost £2.55 a day.  School lunches should be paid for in advance or on the day by sending in the money in a named envelope.

Facilities are also provided for children to eat a packed lunch. We encourage parents to ensure that packed lunches are healthy and wholesome.  More information is available from the school office.

Snacks

Children may bring fruit for break times. Crisps are allowed in packed lunches but we do not allow children to bring sweets for their snack or lunch.

For children who bring lunch to school, we do encourage them as well as parents to make healthy choices and provide a balanced diet, although we are all human and understand the attraction of an occasional treat. Our dedicated teaching assistants help monitor the quality of children’s lunches and encourage them not to waste food.

Free School Meals

The Government funds schools in England to provide every child in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 with a meal at lunch time. All you need to do to claim your Universal Free School Meal for Infants is ensure you confirm with the school that your child is having a school meal that day.

Some children in Key Stage 2 are also entitled to  Free School Meals. You do not need to take up the entitlement if you or your son or daughter would prefer not to have school meals, but having registered means that we will have additional money, per registered pupil, in the school’s budget.

To be eligible for free school meals the child’s family must be in receipt of one of the following benefits.

• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
• Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

• Children who get paid these benefits directly, instead of through a parent or guardian, can also get free school meals.

  Your child may also get free school meals if you get any of these benefits and your child is both:

• younger than the compulsory age for starting school
• in full-time education

Kent County Council have launched an online Free School Meals application service including an eligibility assessment to establish whether you have an entitlement to Free School Meals. This can be accessed at http://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/schools/free-school-meals 

The school will be notified automatically of any successful applications.