School meals information

School Lunches 

As a healthy school, we pride ourselves on the healthy meals we provide and the healthy packed lunches that parents and carers send in. Our sensory garden provides fresh herbs and vegetables for use in the school lunches in the summer months.

School meals are provided by the service Caterlink.  The meals are prepared and cooked in our on site school kitchen and served on a cafeteria basis. Children have a varied choice of food and a menu for the week is always available from the office. Click the School Lunches link above to view the menu! 
 

Free school meals 

Children in reception, year 1 and 2 - click here to apply

All children in reception, year 1 and year 2 can get free school meals.

If you receive a qualifying benefit (see list below) you should complete the application form so that the school can receive extra funding.

If your child attends nursery then you should also apply for free school meals.

Children in year 3, 4, 5 and 6 - click here to apply 

All children in year 3, year 4, year 5 and year 6 can get free school meals for the 2023-2024 school year only regardless of benefits or household earnings.  Funding for this is provided by the Mayor of London and it covers schools in London boroughs only.

If you receive a qualifying benefit (see list below) you should complete the application form so that the school can receive extra funding.  

List of qualifying benefits:

• Income Support
• Income-based Job Seeker's Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Universal Credit – your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including benefits) 
• Child Tax Credit with a taxable income of no more than £16,190 and not in receipt of Working Tax Credit
• the Guaranteed Element of State Pension Credit
• support from the National Asylum Support Service (NASS)

If you receive Working Tax Credit you will not be entitled to free school meals unless you have:

• stopped work in the last 4 weeks; or
• reduced your hours to less than 16 hours in the last 4 weeks

Applications must be made in the name of the person who is receiving the benefit and you only need to apply once. 

Payment for school meals is done through Parent Pay only.  Please contact Nancy in the school office with any questions you may have about payments for school lunches (sbm@stalbans.camden.sch.uk).

Children may bring a packed lunch. Lunch boxes should be clearly labelled with the child's name and year group. We ask that you follow the guidelines in your starter pack for what should be in a packed lunch.

If you wish to change your child from a school lunch to a packed lunch or from a packed lunch to a school lunch, we ask that you inform the office immediately in writing, giving them a week’s notice before the change over.

Here's what the children think of school lunches:

"Our school meals are healthy!" Y5

"I like how they try to make the lunches look nice." Y3

"The kitchen staff help us to know what the choices are and are very friendly" Y6 

Packed Lunches - WE ARE A NUT FREE SCHOOL.  Please ensure all food in your child's packed lunch is nut free.

Packed lunches should include:

Fruit and Vegetables: at least one portion of fruit and one portion of vegetables must be included.

Protein: meat, fish, egg or other source of non-dairy protein (e.g. lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas, hummus and dhal)

Oily fish: such as tinned or fresh mackerel, sardines and salmon, and fresh skipjack tuna (tinned tuna is not counted as an oily fish)

Carbohydrate: starchy food such as bread, pasta, rice, couscous, noodles, potatoes, chapattis and roti.

Dairy: food such as milk, cheese, yoghurt, fromage frais, or calcium fortified soya products, reduced fat versions of these should be used where possible.

Fruit based pudding such as fruit salad, tinned fruit with yoghurt or custard, fruity rice pudding, fruit based crumble.

Foods to avoid or limit

Packed lunches should not include any of the following, even on school trips:

• Fizzy drinks or fruit juice – all children have access to water.
• Confectionery such as chocolate bars, chocolate-coated biscuits and sweets
• Chocolate spread as a sandwich filling
• Crisps
• Deep fried food and take-out food
• Cake

Very occasionally, some parents request that they can take their child home for their lunch, due to a religious observance. If a parent would like to request this, please arrange a meeting with the Headteacher.

NHS Food Scanner App - please click for link to the app