Hot meals are cooked on the premises, the children have a choice between a meat or vegetarian option and make their choice at registration time. This enables our cook to plan the quantities required more accurately and also ensure the pupils get a meal of their choice.
ALL children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are entitled to a meal, free of charge, under the UIFSM programme and registration is not required.
Castle Hill Primary School has a NO DEBT policy relating to the school meals, meals must be paid online in advance. Please click on this link to be taken to the online payment system -> ScoPay Payment System.
Water Bottles
We encourage children to bring in their own water bottle into school, which can be re-filled during the day. Bottles should be water only please.
Pre-ordering School Meals
You need to pre-order your child's meals in advance through either the ScoPay app or website. This is a simple process and allows you to discuss options with your children at home in advance. This can be done on a monthly, weekly or daily basis as preferred however, please ensure meals are booked the night before. You will not be able to pre-order on the day that the meal is being taken. Your child's dinner money account will need to have a credit balance in order to pre-order a meal, this is in line with our ‘No debt policy’. The school menu is available to review as an attachment below.
Each morning the teacher will cross-reference the meals ordered with the children in their class to ensure that no child is missed and any amendments to choices can be made.
The price of school meals will increase on Monday 2 September 2024 by 20p to £3.20 for all pupils across Hampshire who purchase school meals through Hampshire County Council’s Education Catering service and applies to all meal types for both schools. HC3S are committed to pricing meals solely to cover costs, without making a profit. They offer a healthy and balanced two-course hot meal that supports the learning and concentration of Hampshire’s children and young people.
If your child is in Year R, 1 or 2 they are eligible for a Universal Infant Free School Meals UIFSM so meals are free of charge, but you will still need to select their meal choice. If your child is eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) they are also free of charge, but again you will still need to pre-order your child’s meal preference.
Please find below an easy step by step 'Preordering How To Guide'
The cost of school meals for pupils in KS2 is:
Cost per meal: £3.20
Weekly cost: £16.00
As we are now a cashless school for school meals please make your payments online (using debit or credit card). Money should not be handed over to the Admin Team on the reception desk. Alternatively, children can bring a packed lunch to eat at lunch time.
At playtime, the children are able to eat a healthy mid-morning snack. The Government provides funding for children in Reception, Year 1 and 2 to have a piece of fruit or vegetable daily. Parents of children in older year groups are asked to provide their child with a piece of fruit or vegetable from home each day.
Meal Debt
We have updated our Meal Debt Policy for parents. As part of this, we are encouraging parents to clear off any outstanding lunch balance on their ScoPay accounts by 1st June 2024. After this date, we update Tucasi so that it will not be able to place a lunch order unless there is a credit balance on their account. To read our Debt Recovery policy visit our school policy page - Policies
Food Allergies
If your child has been diagnosed with a food allergy and requires school meals you should request a form from the school office which will allow HC3S to prepare a special menu for them. Until such time as this has been done the kitchen is unable to supply a meal for your child. For more information on the Special Diet Application visit: https://www.castlehillprimary.net/parents/school-meals/HC3S
Natasha's Law
Natasha’s Law which comes into force 1st October 2021 and sets out the legal requirement for allergen labelling on prepacked food for direct sale (PPDS). Please find below our response from HC3S:
Food Labelling Changes and How it Affects You
NUT ALLERGIES
Please be aware that Castle Hill Primary School has a complete ban on any food products containing nuts. We have children who will be seriously ill just by being in close proximity to anyone who has eaten nuts or nut products. Please be considerate when sending in snacks or packed lunches that we are a no nut school. Unfortunately this includes sweets for birthdays which cannot be handed out in the classroom.
Suncream - Urgent Information
Please see the safety warning issued by Allergy UK regarding the Nivea Sun Protection range for ‘kids’ which, Allergy UK understands, now includes almond oil. Use this link to view the 'News' article: https://www.castlehillprimary.net/news/2022-04-28-urgent-information-about-nivea-sun-protection
In light of this news, can we please request that parents refrain from sending their children in with the suncream identified as containing almond oil.
Healthy Snacks/Lunch boxes
Just a reminder that we really want to promote healthy eating at school so ask that you send your child to school with a healthy snack for break times e.g. NO CHOCOLATE.
Please read Mrs Arnold's (Lunchtime Lead) message below for information and ideas:
"As you are all hopefully aware. Castle Hill Primary School is a 'nut free' school. We have a complete ban on any food products containing nuts and may contain nuts. We have children who will be seriously ill just by being in close proximity to anyone who has eaten nuts or nut products. We as a school take children's allergies and dietary requirements very seriously.
In relation to this, I thought it might be useful to suggest a few lunch box ideas for a healthy nut free lunch. For example, an alternative to crisps could be popcorn or rice cakes, these can come in a variety of flavours. A substitute for sliced bread could be wraps, bagels or pitta bread. Again these come in a range of varieties. Lunch box snacks could include raisins, fruit pots, yogurts, jelly pots, dairylea dunkers, malt loaf, tea cakes, vegetable sticks and dips...there are so many to list them all!
If you do have access to the internet then these two websites are fantastic for healthy lunch box suggestions. They include recipes and visual pictures as well as a huge range of ideas.
https://www.nhs.uk/change4life-beta
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support with keeping Castle Hill Primary School both healthy and nut free."
