School Meals
Update: Friday 8th September 2023
School Dinners - London Free School Meals
Thank you to those of you who signed up in advance for school meals this week.
We have had between 180+ children eating Free School Meals this week, which is fantastic!
Our Kitchen staff have been working hard to ensure all the children have a school meal that want one, but with fewer than half of children signed up each day this week, they had to make their best guess on how much food would be needed.
Register
We therefore urge you to register your wish for your child to have school dinners via your Parentpay account, as this will enable the kitchen to order enough food in advance, whilst also ensuring they make enough meals for your children each day and reduce unnecessary food waste due to over-estimating.
Sandwich option
As the option of sandwiches starts from next week as well, it is even more important that those choices are recorded in good time, to ensure there is enough stock ordered and the right sandwiches made for the children who have requested them.
Weekly deadline
From next week, the weekly cut off will be on a Wednesday (for the following week), so if you only want to choose weekly, this is the day by which you need to have recorded.
However, we suggest that you look ahead and book for the whole half term, so you only need to remember to do it once. The menu is visible for each week to make it clear what you are choosing (it is on a three week rotation which you can also see on our website here).
Amendments to these choices can be made so are not fixed forever, but the Wednesday remains the cut off date for the following week.
We really hope as many of our families as possible will take advantage of this London Assembly offer of Free School Meals for all junior school aged children this academic year.
From September 2023
Following a funding announcement for London schools, all school meals will be provided free of charge for this academic year.
Year 3 children will all have school meals. Children in Years 4-6 can choose but we strongly encourage you to take up this opportunity of a freshly prepared meal for your child each lunchtime.
School Meals at St John’s are prepared freshly onsite each day and served by our school caterers - 'Radish'.
If you would like your child to have school meals, please contact the school office.
You are able to choose which day your child has school meals and can chose a mix of school meals and packed lunch. We do ask that you have the same meal pattern for every week. The current menu is below.
If you would like your child to stop having school meals, please give the school a minimum of one week's notice via email to office@stjohnshamptonwick.school.
Current Menu
Autumn 2023Allergy Advice
We take all pupil's allergies very seriously and can cater to most requirements if made aware of them - please don't hesitate to contact the school office to make the appropriate arrangements. The current allergy matrix can be found here.
Free School Meals
If you think you may be entitled to Free School Meals, please contact the Local Authority (details below) as soon as possible, who will be able to check your eligibility. Please also inform the school office that you have made contact with the Local Authority, so that we can follow up on your behalf if there is any query or delay.
School Services and Benefits Officer - Free School Meals
Achieving for Children
Phone: 020 8547 5448
Our School’s Caterers – Radish
Here at Radish, we believe that food is a great way to bring everyone together. We want to share our love of good, real food so we actively engage with all children at the school through our interactive workshops, healthy eating assemblies and, of course, serving them a delicious and nutritious lunch every day.
We always meet the Government food-based standard for our school lunches: as a minimum, every day we provide the children with two hot choices, at least one vegetarian option, homemade dessert, freshly baked bread, salad bar, yoghurt and fresh fruit.
All of our meals are freshly prepared on-site by our talented chefs to ensure there are no undesirable additives. We pack many of our dishes full of hidden veggies so that the children increase their intake without even realising. Our Nutritionist, Sarah, works on every menu we create for the school which is rotated every term to include the best local fruit and vegetables that are in season. See this term’s menu here.
Our exceptional food, service and ethical approach have been recognised within the catering industry and beyond, including Food for Life, Red Tractor Farm Assured Food Standards Scheme, Marine Stewardship Council, Free Range Eggs and British Meat Processors Association.
We want the pupils to understand nutrition and where food comes from whilst experimenting with their own creations - so we introduce them to our popular Herby and Big Chef Little Chef concepts, giving them fun activities and friendly characters to learn from. See what we have been up to recently at the school by clicking here.
We love to meet with parents, guardians and carers of the school so we run evening presentations and taster sessions which are a great way for you to find out what we are all about. For more information about our presentations and taster sessions, please contact your school.
Discover more about Radish - visit www.Radishallgood.com
Christmas Dinner
Every December we hold our annual Christmas lunch and at St John's we like to get together as a family to celebrate. We invite all children and staff to join in on this happy occasion, even if they usually eat a packed lunch from home.
Look out for our letter to parents in December with the dates and details.
(Please note that additional payment is not necessary for Christmas lunch if your child already has school dinners and you have paid for the half-term, or if you are currently registered as eligible for free school meals).