Please refer to the Innovate website for menu details - ordering needs to confirmed by Saturday at the latest.

Packed Lunches & Breaktime Snacks 

Milk at breaktime - If you would like to order milk for your child please register using the following link https://www.coolmilk.com/

As an accredited healthy eating School please see below the recommended guidelines for packed lunches & breaktime snacks.

In our current situation the children all sit together during lunch time in the classroom, in normal circumstances they sit in the dining room with other classes, it is therefore important to recognise that some pupils may require special diets, or have nut and food allergies and may be in close contact with each other.  Parents and Carers should ensure packed lunches are as healthy as possible and advise their children not to swap food items. If you provide a morning snack please ensure that it is fresh fruit or vegetables and not cereal bars or biscuits.  As a school we recognise our duty of care to all children and would like to share with you our healthy eating guidelines:

Healthy Eating guidelines

• Parents and Carers are responsible for ensuring all food in a packed lunch is both fit for consumption and meets the recommendations laid out below.
• Parents and Carers are responsible for ensuring morning snacks provided consist of fresh fruit and vegetables and not cereal bars or biscuits.

• The school will try to meet its duty of care to ensure that all packed lunches provide a healthy balanced meal to allow children to fully participate in afternoon learning.

• Give reasonable portion sizes, it is important for your child not to feel overwhelmed.
• Lunchtime staff will encourage your child to eat the contents of their lunch, please include food they are familiar with.
• All packaging and containers are to be easily opened by the children and will be returned home daily.
• Packed lunches should be brought to school with the child in the morning, except in very exceptional circumstances, it is not possible to take packed lunches through to children.
• The school will provide a clean & suitable area for pupils bringing in packed lunches and ensure that free, fresh drinking water is readily available in the dining room.
• As fridge space is not available in school, pupils are advised to bring packed lunches in insulated bags with freezer blocks where possible to stop food deteriorating.

Packed lunches should comprise of the following:

• At least one portion of fruit and vegetables every day
• Meat, fish or other source of non-dairy protein
• A starchy food such as bread, pasta, rice, couscous, noodles, potatoes or other cereals
• Dairy food such as milk, cheese, yoghurt, fromage frais or custard.
• Only still water, fruit juice, semi-skimmed milk drinks and smoothies.  These should be in plastic bottles or cartons.
• Hot food is discouraged on the basis that maintaining safe temperatures of certain food items can be difficult. Therefore, there could potentially be a health risk to the child. Any food such as soup should be provided in a safe suitable flask which is age appropriate for the child. 

        Packed lunches should NOT include:

• •  nuts, including peanut butter and Nutella
  •  chocolate bars/sweets
  •  fizzy drinks

It is advisable for processed foods to also not be included, they are high in sugar, salt and additives that do not promote a healthy balance during the day for your child’s concentration.

Packed lunches will be regularly reviewed by teaching staff/catering staff/midday lunch supervisors, the school will endeavour to work with parents & carers together for the best outcome for the children, if we feel the guidelines are not being met, we will discuss with you how best to move forward. Please remember, Reception class & KS1 are entitled to a free packed lunch through Innovate, you just need to pre-order the lunch using their online system.

For more information about nut allergies visit www.allergyinschools.co.uk 

Please note that Holtspur School & Pre School is accredited with the ‘Healthy Schools’ status which we are very proud of, so please support us by adhering to the above. We also work towards being environmentally friendly where possible in school, re-usable containers help to support our sustainable approach by avoiding the use of plastic packaging.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Did you know?

If you are in receipt of child tax credit and your household income is below £16,190 per year or you are in receipt of one of a range of other benefits, your child / children may be entitled to Free School Meals (FSM). To find out more contact your local council for details on how to apply, don’t miss out your could save £350+ per annum.