SCHOOL MEALS

Lunch and playtime arrangements/drinks

Children in Key Stage One are provided with fruit under the Government’s Fruit Scheme. Parents of pupils in Key Stage Two may provide a piece of fruit for their child to eat at morning break. Parents may also order cartons of milk for their child if they so wish. Information may be obtained from the school office.

Unless we have a written request from parents for children to leave the premises at lunchtime, all children are expected to remain in school. This is purely for matters relating to the safety and welfare of pupils and is particularly important in the event of any emergency. Requests for lunchtime absence should be addressed in the first instance to the child’s class teacher.

Lunch time supervisors are employed to assist with the organisation and supervision of pupils between Mid-day and 1.15 pm each day and they are supported in their role by the Senior Midday Meals Supervisor whose job is to ensure that lunchtime works well and is enjoyed fully by all the pupils at the school. The school provides equipment to support the pupils’ playtimes both at morning play and at lunchtime. For pupils in Key Stage 1 who would benefit from organised activities to support their social skills and develop confidence and self-esteem, the school provides activity sessions inside the classrooms on a number of days each week.

During lunchtime playtimes our Infant (Key Stage 1), pupils also benefit from our ‘Buddy’ scheme operated by our oldest pupils in Year 6. The Year 6 pupils have the responsibility of leadership and enjoying playing the games with younger children, they provide real encouragement to the younger pupils to join in, take turns and to share with other children.

A range of clubs operate for children during the lunchtime period including, Construction club, Cookery, Gardening etc as well as after school Art Club and Drama and Dance.

Meal options

Pupils may:

1. Remain in school and purchase a meal. We ask that all lunch money is brought into school in a sealed envelope with your child’s name, class teacher’s name and the amount, written on the outside. Please do not put anything else in the envelope. The cost of a school meal is currently £2.10 for pupils in both Key Stage 1 and in Key Stage 2. Payments should be made on the first school day of the week and meals can also be purchased in advance for a period of up to half a term.

2. Remain in school and eat a packed lunch brought from home. Packed lunch meals for all pupils in the school may be eaten in classrooms or in the hall between mid-day and the close of lunchtime at 1.15 p.m. All meals, whether cooked by the school or brought in from home are supervised by the Mid-day Supervisory staff.

3. Go home; provided a written request has been made by parents.

Pupils are given plenty of time to eat their lunches and despite the difficulties that we do have with available space inside the building, pupils are not pressured into eating their lunch quickly in order to release space for other pupils. We do of course expect all pupils to conduct themselves sensibly, whether they be eating school lunches or packed lunches and we do place due emphasis on good manners. Unnecessary talking is not acceptable, particularly when eating food and the importance of other good eating habits, sitting properly and eating over the table, not rushing eating, using knives, forks and spoons properly and cleaning up any spillage of food they make (if appropriate), are consistently reinforced by the adult supervisors.

In the interests of safety, pupils who have packed lunches are reminded of the risk to other pupils of bringing in to school items of food that may trigger an allergic reaction eg peanut allergy.

Pupils from the Centre join mainschool for lunch on a daily basis, alongside the KS1 pupils. The ratio of adults is high to ensure the experience is a positive one, whereby conversation and social skills practice is realised seamlessly.

‘The Contract Dining Company’, the school’s meals contractor ensures that all its meals are ‘safe’ in this regard, but the school encourages all parents/carers whose child(ren) is/are new to Cage Green, to meet with the Head of Kitchen, to discuss any aspects of the lunches that are provided. We understand that parents may be uncertain in the first few weeks as to whether they would like their child to have a meal prepared by our contractors or for their child to bring in their own packed lunch.

The Contract Dining Company have requested that the children have a minimum of 2 school meals per week.

Please click to see the current school menu.

If parents/carers would like an appointment with the Head of Kitchen, this can be made by telephoning our school office.

To support the school’s commitment to healthy lifestyles we encourage all pupils to drink water in school. Water containers can be accessed throughout the school day at designated times planned by the Class teacher. All plastic drinks containers should be marked with the child’s name and taken home weekly to be washed.

Please note:

In times of hardship, unemployment, changes in family circumstances etc., free lunches are often able to be provided by the Local Authority. If Parents contact the school office in the first instance, concerns in relation to such matters will be dealt with sensitively and confidentially.