Lunchtime

Enjoying our special Christmas Lunch.

At St. Joseph's we encourage children to drink plenty of water throughout the day, and each child is asked to bring a water bottle to school with them. Fresh, filtered water is available for children to refill their bottles, and also at lunchtimes.

Children in Reception and KS1 are provided with a free piece of fruit or a vegetable (ie. snack tomato, carrot, banana, apple) at break time each day. This is provided by the DCFS free fruit scheme. Older children are encouraged to bring in a piece of fruit for morning break. Years 5 and 6 also have the opportunity to buy toast at morning break time.

We work very hard to help our children to be aware of the importance of eating healthily.

School Meals

Our school lunches are provided by Citiserve and are cooked onsite by our lovely Cooks. The current weekly price for a two-course meal can be found in our Prospectus.

Our school dinner menu follows a three-week cycle. You can see the current menus below:

• School Dinner Menu (pdf)

School meals are designed to give your child a healthy balanced selection of food to choose from each day. Our menu is not halal, but we do provide a vegetarian option every day. On Fridays, we do not have meat, but have vegetarian and fish options for children. Every day your child can help themselves to fresh bread and salad from the salad bar in addition to their meal.

Free School Meals

If you are entitled to certain benefits, you may be entitled to receive free school meals for your child. To see if you are eligible, please come into the school office or complete the form on our Policies and Documents page.

Please note that if you receive Working Families Tax Credits, you are not entitled to free school meals.

We have a system at St. Joseph's whereby you can also apply for free school meals online. The database will check your eligibility straight away with various agencies and notify you of the outcome. Apply at the FSM Checking Service website (external link).

You will need your National Insurance number, date of birth and also the same details for your partner. If your claim is successful, school will be notified that you are eligible.

You can find out more information about free school meals in our Parents' Guide to Free School Meals on our Policies and Documents page.

Universal Free School Meals

At present, a Government Initiative means that all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 can receive a free school meal, regardless of entitlement. This is currently in place until September 2015, but may be extended beyond that date, depending on the Government's decision.

Packed Lunches

If your child brings their own packed lunch, we would ask that you follow a few simple rules to ensure that lunches are healthy:

• We do not allow sweets, chocolate or chocolate covered cakes or bars in packed lunches.
• Your child should bring plain water or juice. We do not allow fizzy or sugary drinks in school.
• Please ensure that your child knows not to share any of their packed lunch with others or take items from another child. This is especially important as we have a number of children who suffer from food allergies.