School lunch, milk and fruit

Lunch

Hot school lunches are provided by Chartwells, under an external contract by West Sussex County Council. Menus are regularly reviewed and updated to provide balanced, nutritious meals that comply with healthy eating standards.

Parents or carers must order their children’s hot dinners via the ParentPay website at least 10 days in advance (i.e., Thursday for the Monday 10 days later); packed lunches will need to be provided if you are unable to order in time; the contract does not allow for or provide spare meals that have not been ordered. You can select meals up to 10 weeks in advance, so we recommend reviewing your selections for the following term t the end of each half term. Please note children in Key Stage 2 (Y3-6) that are not pupil premium will need to pay for their meals; this must be done at time of selection.

Please be aware, you should NOT select packed lunches, unless your child(ren) are on a school trip for that specific day.

Free School Meals

If your child(ren) is/are entitled to free school meals, please fill in the form online (Free school meals – West Sussex County Council). When the school receives confirmation from County Hall, your ParentPay account will be updated to reflect this.

Allergies

Please inform Chartwells directly as soon as possible. Chartwells can be contacted on 01243 736130 or 73041@compass-group.co.uk

Please also ensure the school is aware of any allergies and treatment arrangements.

Nut-free environment

The school is a nut-free environment due to allergies. This includes nut-containing and nut-derived products (e.g. Nutella chocolate spread, sun creams containing almond oil).

Any nut products will be removed from children and safely disposed of.

Packed Lunches

Any child is allowed to bring in packed lunches, although we encourage Early Years and Key Stage 1 (R-Y2) to take advantage of the universal free school meals as this offers a variety of healthy, balanced, nutritious meals. If children do bring in packed lunches, they must be healthy, nut-free, and balanced. We discourage junk foods, highly processed foods, and chocolate products, as these are generally of low nutritional value and are often detrimental to children’s health and wellbeing.

We recommend the NHS’s Healthier lunchbox recipes page if you are after some inspiration.

Milk

Children under 5 years old are entitle to free milk. This is supplied by Cool Milk and will be ordered by the school.

Once your child has reached 5, if you still wish them to receive milk then you can order and pay via Cool Milk directly: 0333 400 11 99 or https://www.coolmilk.com/

Fruit

Fruit is provided for all children in Early Years and Key Stage 1 (R-Y2). Please let the school know of any allergies that your children suffer from. Children may bring in their own piece of fruit for their snack if you wish – applicable also to Key Stage 2 (Y3-Y6).