School Lunches
Your child may have a school lunch prepared by Innovate Catering or a packed lunch provided from home.
Ordering School Meals
Meals need to be ordered through Innovate's catering app, Impact Food. Orders need to be completed by 11pm on Sunday evening for the following week. All children receive a link to sign up to Impact Food directly from Innovate. If you have queries or experience any issues with ordering, please contact primary@impactfood.co.uk or 020 4501 5000 and select option 2. Children who arrive at school without a meal from home and having not ordered through the app will be provided with a jacket potato and baked beans. All allergy information for your child should be put into the app so Innovate can ensure their meals are appropriate for them.
Universal Infant Free School Meals and Cost of Lunch
Children in years Reception to 2 are entitled to universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) meaning there is no cost to parents for school lunches. From year 3, the cost of a school lunch is £2.60 per day.
Free School Meals
Some children from Reception onwards are eligible for free school meals status. It is important to register for free school meal status with Central Bedfordshire Council as you may be entitled to additional support (such as help towards uniform or school trips). If your child prefers packed lunches, there is a packed lunch (or Deli) option at school. The poster linked below shows the eligibility criteria, if you think you might be eligible please call Central Bedfordshire Council on 0300 300 8306.
Central Bedfordshire Free School Meals Criteria and to Apply
Central Bedfordshire Free School Meals poster
Packed Lunches from home
Packed lunches from home should be brought in a clearly named box and your child should be able to manage packaging themselves. Drinks may be brought in unbreakable containers, no cans please, clearly marked with your child's name.
Sweets, crisps, biscuits etc. are not allowed in school for snacks, however, fruit or vegetables in a named bag are acceptable and encouraged.
Allergies
There are children at school with life-threatening allergies to certain foods. We have processes in place to minimise the risk to children with food allergies in school. It follows an ABC principle:
A. A NO NUT, NO SESAME POLICY - all staff and students are asked to avoid foods that contain these.
B. BE RESERVED, NO SHARING - usually we encourage children to share; however, sharing food at school can be unsafe due to allergies. Please remind your children of this risk.
C. CUT OUT - please be sure to exclude the foods in the list below, and keep in mind not just for packed lunches in school but also on school trips, snacks at break time and after school clubs.
Our catering providers minimise the use of allergen ingredients in their menus and cater specifically for students who have formally notified them about an allergy. If you would like to record a food allergy for your child, please speak to the school office.
List of foods that cannot be brought into school:
- All nuts and sesame
- Nutella
- Peanut butter
- Cereals/cereal bars
- Seeded bread sticks
- Seeded bread, buns or crackers
- Sushi
- Sesame snaps
- Houmous
- Tahini
- Pesto
- Magic Stars
- Snickers
- Mars Bars
*Please note that this is not a comprehensive list of foods to avoid, labels must still be checked.
