Hot Lunches
Current menus can be found by visiting this website:
https://www.hants.gov.uk/educationandlearning/education-catering
At Pilgrims' Cross, we believe that the best option for children at lunchtime is to have the hot school dinner, provided through our partnership with HC3S. We expect that parents of children in Key Stage 1 will take up the option of the Universal Infant Free School Meal. This is because we believe that the hot school dinner option is much better for the children’s learning and health. We recognise the evidence that states:
• Children are better prepared for learning if they eat well
• Children make more progress if they have eaten the right nutritional lunch
• Only 1% of packed lunches provide the correct nutrition
• Eating hot dinners is an important social occasion and the children learn vital social skills
HC3S provide all the nutrients that children require through the week.
Lunchtime is at 12noon (11:45am for Year R children).
Meals are provided by Hampshire County Council Education Catering Services and are cooked on-site in our state of the art kitchen facilities
From September 2014, the government provided funding to enable ALL children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, with a free school meal EVERY DAY.
School meals cost £3 per day for children in Year 3,4,5 and 6.
Please note that if you are in receipt of any state benefit your child might be eligible for PUPIL PREMIUM FUNDING which would entitle your child to a free school meal every day and also extra funding for us to support your child's education.
If you think you may be entitled to PUPIL PREMIUM FUNDING, you can check your eligibility by visiting this website: https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/ofsm/hants/
We kindly request that lunches are paid for in advance on a Monday morning. Please bring dinner money in a clearly marked envelope and pass to the class teacher with the following information - NAME, CLASS, and AMOUNT ENCLOSED. If your child is eating on certain days only, PLEASE write the days on the envelope. If a meal is missed, the money is carried forward to the next week or refunded upon request. If your child is away from school on a Monday, please send in on the first day back.
If children arrive after 9am and we have not been previously advised that they will be requiring a school lunch, parents will be required to provide their child with a packed lunch.
Packed lunches should be sent in a small, separate, clearly named lunch bag. The contents of your child’s packed lunch box are left for parents to decide, although we do ask for the children to have healthy food to eat in their packed lunch.
We kindly request that children do not have sweets or fizzy drinks placed in their lunchboxes. All uneaten food will be returned home at the end of the day so that you have a clear picture of what your child is eating.
Please do not send in any products containing nuts, as we have children with allergies and are therefore we are a nut free zone. Children may not swap their food with others.
Snack Time
All children in Year R, 1 and 2 will receive a piece of fruit or vegetable each day, as part of a government scheme.
Children in Years 3,4,5 and 6 may bring in their own piece of fruit to eat mid-morning. No other snack products are permitted from home.
Milk
Up to their 5th birthday, all children are entitled to a daily carton of milk free of charge. This is provided at break times.
In order for children to receive this - parents must complete the registration form provided below or online: https://www.coolmilk.com/parents and return it to Cool Milk, in order to be registered and to qualify for this.
Children over the age of 5 years are able to apply for a carton of milk to drink during the mid-morning break.
Payment should be made directly to Cool Milk.
Those children eligible for the Free School Meal Pupil Premium Grant are also entitled to free milk. Please contact the school office to ensure that your child is registered.
Drinking water is available in all the classrooms, in addition to the dining hall.