School Meals & Sandwiches
At lunchtime, children can have either a meal provided by our kitchen staff or bring a packed lunch from home.
Unless your child is in receipt of free school meals, you need to pay for their dinners.
- Hot meals (including jacket potatoes) are £3 each.
- A roll/sandwich is £2 each.
Dinners need to be ordered and paid for in advance through Arbor. They include dessert, which the children can choose themselves on the day.
At lunchtime, the children are allowed to go out onto the playground by themselves – adults will be waiting for them outside. If your child is starting in Year R, their class teachers will take them out and will be on duty during lunchtime for their first term at school, until they are settled in.
We have some fantastic play provision for children during lunchtime, including various adult-led groups as well as child-led groups. At the end of lunchtime, the children will line up to go back into class. Please do encourage your child to go to the toilet during playtime and lunchtime.
If your child has any food allergies, please do speak to us regarding specific menus.
School Meals
Here is our current menu ...
Week A - week commencing 4th November, 25th November, 16th December
Week B - w/c 11th November, 2nd December
Week C - w/c 18th November, 9th December.
A selection of vegetable crudités and desserts are freshly prepared each day to complement the menu.
Packed Lunches
Children may bring in a packed lunch from home (nut-free please). We don't have refrigerated facilities to store lunchboxes, so we recommend that you provide a cool bag depending on the nature of food that you provide for your child.
Please also provide your child with any cutlery or drinks that they will require with their packed lunch. All packaging and any food not eaten will be returned to you each day, so that you can monitor the amount that your child eats.
Please note that in order to promote healthy lifestyles, children should have healthy lunch boxes Monday - Thursday, with Friday being a treat day ... everything in moderation! If you need some ideas, click here ... https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/recipes/healthier-lunchboxes#lunchbox-recipes
Children are discouraged from bringing sweets and confectionary (such as chocolate bars) or fizzy drinks in their packed lunch.
The children are supervised during the lunch break, both in the hall whilst eating and in the playground.
Snack Time
All Reception and KS1 children are provided with a free piece of fruit daily. KS2 children are invited to bring fruit, vegetables or cheese as a snack for break time. We do not promote crisps, biscuits or chocolate as a snack or for lunch unless it is a 'treat day'.
Drinks
Milk is available to all pupils and free for pupils under 5 or entitled to free school meals. For more information, please contact the school office.
Please send in your child with a bottle of water each day (not fruit squash please). We encourage all children to keep hydrated throughout the day and ensure that there is fresh water available at appropriate times.
If there is a medical reason for an alternative drink to be brought in to school, please contact the office.
Nut-free Guidance
We aim to be a nut-free school. We do not allow nuts or nut products in school lunch boxes, as there are children at Oakfield that do have severe nut allergies, and we need to protect them.
Our nut-free guidance means that the following items should not be brought into school:
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Packs of nuts
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Peanut butter or Nutella sandwiches
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Fruit and cereal bars that contain nuts
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Chocolate bars or sweets that contain nuts or hazelnut spread
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Sesame seed rolls and breads containing sesame seeds (children allergic to nuts may also have a severe reaction to sesame)
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Cakes made with nuts
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Any home-cooked meals for packed lunches that are made with nuts.
We don't use nuts in any of our food prepared on site at our school. Our suppliers provide us with nut-free products. However, we cannot guarantee that all food is free from nut traces.
What types of food are nuts?
- Almonds
- Cashew nuts
- Hazelnut
- Pistachio
- Walnuts
- Brazil nuts
- Nut oils
- Peanuts
Parents and carers must notify staff if their child has any known or suspected allergy to nuts and provide all medical and necessary information. This will be added to your child’s care plan and, if necessary, a meeting organised with the school first aid lead and the catering team.
The school requests that parents and carers observe the nut-free guidance and therefore do not include nuts, or any traces of nuts, in packed lunches. All children are regularly reminded about the good hygiene practice of washing hands before and after eating, which helps to reduce the risk of secondary contamination. Likewise, children are reminded and carefully supervised to minimise the act of food sharing with their friends.
Thank you for your help in making our school safe for all children.
Staff supervision
Our staff supervise at lunch times as we know they know our children the best! They help children by playing games, rotating equipment and having fun with them.
