School Meals

School Meals

From 1st April 2023, the school meal catering will be managed by a local catering group called Hutchisons. If you would like to access their website, please click on the link https://hutchisoncatering.co.uk/

Our school meal service is organised through a system called Appetite: https://appetite.hutchisoncatering.co.uk. A key option of this new service is a a pre-order system for your child’s school meal  Parents can pre order for a day, a week, a month or a term. The system will accept orders until 9am each day. This has many benefits:-

• Children and parents can select the food they want to eat each day from the menu so children select what they like.
• Parents know what their child has had to eat.
• It reduces food wastage.  

If you choose not to pre order food, your child will still get a school meal however there may be a limited choice from the menu that day. We have found it really beneficial for the cook when most of our families have pre-ordered their options, it also means the children are not disappointed and they receive exactly what they want to eat and has reduced a lot of food waste. 

All parents/carers have been set up with an appetite account - please visit https://appetite.hutchisoncatering.co.uk. Through the appetite systems, you will be able to pre-oder your child's meals, pay for meals and view the menus. Even if your child is in Reception, Year 1 or 2 and receives universal free school meals or your child in Y3/4/5/6 receives benefits related free meals you still need to pre-order their meal via your account through the appetite system. 

New Intake parents/carers will receive an email from appetite with instructions on how to set up your account and how to log in. 

Universal free school meals & benefit-related free school meals

You're eligible for free school meals if you receive any of the following benefits:

• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
• Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

If your child is eligible for free school meals, they’ll remain eligible until they finish the phase of schooling (primary or secondary) they’re in on 31 March 2025. Applications can be taken over the telephone by calling (0191) 643 2288 (You will require your National Insurance Number) or by completing the on line form via this link. 

All children in Reception, Year 1 to Year 2 are eligible for Universal Infant Free School Meals, however you are advised to still complete the application form below to register. If you do not complete a free meal application form you will have to pay for meals from Year 3.