School Meals at St. Michael's
The cost of a hot school meals from September 2024 will be £3 per day for KS2 children, and free for KS1 children and children in KS2 who are entitled to Free School Meals. For more information on how to apply for Free School Meals please see the link below.
Online Payments
Payments for school meals are now all online, using a system called ‘Arbor’ – please refer to attached leaflet below
What this means to you as a parent / guardian: you will need to download the Arbor App, as explained in the attached leaflet. You will then be able to make online card payments for your child’s school dinners.
Please contact the office if you have any problems with logging on or ordering a meal (Meals for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are all free, and do not need to be booked. Your child will just tell the teacher in the morning if they are school meal or packed lunch).
Government packed lunch advice
The UK government has produced packed lunch guidance to support the implementation of new school food standards for school lunches and ensure that all children benefit from eating quality food during the school day. We encourage parents to follow this advice, and have added a couple of our own requirements in bold. If children bring in items of confectionary we will send the item home separately and inform parents.
The guidelines are:
- One portion of fruit and one portion of vegetable or salad every day to be included in packed lunches
- Meat, fish or another source of non-dairy protein should be included every day. Non dairy sources of protein include lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas, hummus, and falafel. Please do not send any nuts into school, or nut-based food such as peanut butter
- An oily fish, such as salmon, should be ideally included at least once every three weeks
- A starchy food, such as bread or pasta, rice, couscous, noodles, potatoes or other cereals, should be included every day
- A dairy food, such as semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, cheese, yoghurt, fromage frais or custard should be included every day
- Free, fresh drinking water should be available at all times
- Include only water, still or sparkling, fruit juice, semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, yoghurt or milk drinks and smoothies . No fizzy flavoured drinks.
- Snacks such as crisps should not be included. Instead, include seeds, vegetables and fruit (with no added salt, sugar or fat). Savoury crackers or breadsticks served with fruit, vegetables or dairy food are also a good choice
- Confectionery such as chocolate bars, chocolate-coated biscuits and sweets should not be included. Cakes and biscuits are allowed but these should be part of a balanced meal
- Meat products such as sausage rolls, individual pies corned meat and sausages / chipolatas should be included only occasionally.
Food and Drink in School
Allergens and special diets
All of the kitchen staff have been trained in how to manage special diets and allergens. All allergens should be notified when your child starts school, and the kitchen staff will ensure your child does not eat anything they should not. We can cater for all special diets, including vegetarian, vegan, lactose intolerant and gluten free. All of our menus are checked against allergens and this information is available on request from the school office.
Queries about school menus
Any queries about our menus should be sent to the school office for the attention of the Catering Manager, Cathy Orchard. She is very happy to discuss any particular dietary needs with parents.
Meet the Kitchen Team
Our kitchen manager is Cathy Orchard (second from left). Cathy is a very experienced kitchen manager, and has been running our school kitchen since 2016. Her own children used to go to St Michael's, and she is passionate about providing the best possible lunchtime experience for the children here. We serve and prepare around 350 school meals every day, and the menu changes regularly. Cathy is very open to suggestions and ideas, and we have regular 'taster' days to try out new things with the children.
Milk and Fruit in Key Stage 1
Free milk is only provided to 4 year olds and ends on the Monday following their fifth birthday. We do not currently offer milk to children who are over 5.
Children in Key Stage 1 all receive free fruit either before or after morning break. All children throughout the school may bring in fruit for breaktimes.
If you are eligible for Free School Meals and would like your child to be provided with milk, please contact the school office for details
Water Bottles
Children are encouraged to bring a named water bottle in to school each day. Please NO squash or other drinks.
Sweets
Please do not send sweets or cakes in to school for birthdays or special occasions. Sweets or cakes will NOT be handed out in school.
Fruit Tuck
St Michael's is a healthy school and offers fruit tuck at morning break free of charge for KS1 and 25p per item for children in KS2. Children can also bring their own fruit snack for breaktime, but not nuts, cakes, sweets or biscuits.