School Dinners with Chartwells
Hot School lunches are provided by our external provider, Chartwells.
Early Years and Key Stage 1 pupils
The Government announced that from September 2014 all pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 would receive a free school lunch (Universal Infant Free School Meals). Fernhurst Primary School is in the fortunate position that we have kitchens with sufficient capacity to provide hot meals for all our pupils.
If you have a child in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2 you simply need to use the online meal selector to choose which meals your child will have. We will automatically register your child to receive a free hot meal every day. If you do not feel that your child will eat or enjoy a hot meal then they may bring in a packed lunch. You will need to make this decision in advance so that you can select the meal they have - if you do not order the meal, they will not have a lunch available for your child.
For further details please visit Welcome to the West Sussex Mealselector
Key Stage 2 Pupils
Unless you are in receipt of certain benefits and thereby eligible for free school meals you will have to pay if you want your child to receive a hot school meal. Bookings can only be made direct with Chartwells, our hot school meal provider. Details of how to order can be found on their website http://www.mealselector.co.uk or you can click on the links below for more information. We cannot take payment for meals at the school office.
Meals must be ordered in advance, but you can choose to order on as many or as few days as you wish.
For further details please visit Welcome to the West Sussex Mealselector
What to do if you receive benefits
If you are in receipt of certain benefits your child may be eligible for Free School Meals. It's really easy to apply and by doing so you can really help the school receive extra funding that will benefit your child. This applies irrespective of what year they are in. For more information and details of how to apply, please follow the link below or speak to the school office.
If your child is absent
It is your responsibiliity to call Chartwells and cancel their meal. Meals may be cancelled for that and subsequent days provided Chartwells receive notification by TELEPHONE or E-MAIL no later than 10.30am on the first day of absence, and thereafter by 10.30am on each further day of absence unless already advised. The number to call is 0845 603 7998, meals at this stage cannot be cancelled online. Where you have notified Chartwells of your child's absence within the specified time then you will receive a credit for those days that your child is absent from school.
Packed lunches
If children prefer they can bring a packed lunch to school. Lunchboxes should be labelled and must include a drink. In order to maintain our ‘Healthy Schools’ status we ask that lunches do not contain sweets or chocolate, in line with Government expectations. We will do our best to encourage children to eat as much of their lunch as possible.
Children are asked to bring a drinks bottle which can be filled with water throughout the day. Bottles must be ‘named’ with a permanent marker and taken home each day to be washed.
Children in Key Stage 1 are offered a piece of fruit or vegetable at break times. However they may also bring in an additional fruit or vegetable snack from home if they wish. Snacks of any other nature are not allowed. Key Stage 2 children may bring in fruit or vegetable snack from home should they want one.
Please note that we have several children in the school that suffer from a life-threatening nut allergy. We would be grateful therefore if you could read and adhere to the information in the attached letter regarding nuts and nut products in school.
School trips
If your child is on a school trip we always plan to give sufficient notice so that parents can cancel a meal. We ask all parents in the letter regarding the trip to provide their child with a packed lunch. Unfortunately, we are only able to provide packed lunches to pupils who are eligible to Pupil Premium funding and these need to be booked two weeks in advance to enable the kitchen to order the food needed.
Special diets
For children with food intolerances and allergies, Chartwells have a dedicated team of medical diet nutritionists on hand to support allergen aware children and their parents. More information on their medical diet process can be found here: The Chartwells Approach to Medical Diets | Chartwells
Parents and guardians can contact the medical diet nutrition team directly on: westsussexspecialdiets@compass-group.co.uk.
To find out more about Chartwells, visit their website or contact the school catering team. Weblink: Primary School Caterers You Can Trust | Chartwells
