Our catering partners, Accent Catering, help us to provide safe meals for students with allergies and intolerances. If your child has a food allergy or intolerance and meets the qualifying criteria, there are a range of menus designed especially for your child’s medical requirements.

To let us know about your specific requirements, please email – CarolineWhyman@accentcatering.co.uk

0119 – ACCENT NUT STATEMENT NOV 2018

Allergen Primary

All of our tills operate using a student’s online dinner money account and do not accept cash. Mostly this is done using student thumbprints but they can use PIN numbers instead.

Parents can top up their child’s dinner money using our online payment system, Parent Pay, here they can also see what items are being purchased at the school.

Please note that from September 2020 student accounts can only be topped up using Parent Pay, there is no facility to top up using cash.

Many of our students are entitled to Free School Meals but there is often confusion as to exactly what this means and how it works across both phases of the school. We have created a set of frequently asked questions to clarify how it all works:

What are Free School Meals?

In England a Free School Meal (FSM) is a statutory benefit available to school- aged children from families who receive other qualifying benefits and who have been through the relevant registration process.

Is my child entitled to Free School Meals?

If your child is in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2 then they are automatically entitled to receive a meal every day as part of a separate scheme known as ‘Universal Infant Free School Meals’ (UIFSM).

Children in Year 3 or older can get Free School Meals if you receive any of the following:

• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• The guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (as long as you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and you don’t get more than £16,190 a year)
• Working Tax Credit run-on (paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)
• Universal Credit (with annual earned income of no more than £7,400 after tax and not including any benefits you get).

My child qualifies for Free School Meals, how do I apply?

Application can be made online and takes less than 5 minutes. In most cases you will get an instant decision and the school will automatically be notified.

My child qualifies for Free School Meals but would prefer to bring a packed lunch in, should I still apply for Free School Meals?

Yes! The school receives funding from central government for all students who are eligible for Free School Meals, and this continues for several years. Some of this funding will be used specifically to support your child over the next 6 years.

I successfully applied for Free School Meals, now what happens?

Year 3 – Year 6 students: Please let us know if you would like your child to have school dinners. You can choose between two different meal patterns:

• School dinners every day, or
• School dinners on Wednesdays and Fridays

Secondary students: The student’s dinner money account will automatically be updated for Free School Meals. In practice this means that students can spend up to £3.03 per day on food and drink items in the canteen, cafe and sixth form cafe. Any spend over this amount will need to paid for by topping the dinner money account up with cash.

What can my child buy with £3.03 per day?

In the secondary phase this will buy a main meal and a dessert from our menu. Your child can use the allowance on any food items but we believe the best value is gained by choosing a full meal and dessert at lunchtime. Please note that any spend over £3.03 per day will need to be met by topping the dinner money account up by cash.

What happens if my circumstances change and am no longer receiving any of the benefits listed above?

Once you have received confirmation that your child will receive Free School Meals, they will be eligible for the full academic year, even if circumstances change part-way through the year.

Do I need to reapply for Free School Meals every year?

It is best to reapply for Free School Meals each year, this ensures we are using the most up to date information. It also ensures that we are able to access funding from central government for your child.

My child receives Free School Meals but I’d like them to buy snacks as well as hot meals, how can I top their account up with more money?

No problem, you can top up their account using Parent Pay. This will also allow you to set automatic top ups to their dinner money if the balance falls below £0. If you need help accessing Parent Pay please contact us: finance@simonballe.herts.sch.uk

Can I see what food and drink my child is buying with their Free School Meals money?

Yes. Simply log into Parent Pay and you will be able to see all transactions on your child’s dinner money account.

If my child doesn’t spend the Free School Meal balance on one day will it roll over to the next day?

No. The Free School Meals funding doesn’t accumulate. Any unspent amount will revert to zero each day so students will only have £2.60 on subsequent days.

If you have any queries other queries regarding Free School Meals please email us at: admin@simonballe.herts.sch.uk

Primary

£2.60 per day for a main meal and dessert

Fruit and vegetable snacks for children aged 4-6

Secondary

£2.55 for a main meal

£3.03 for a main meal and dessert (this is referred to as ‘Meal of the Day’)

Other individually priced items including:

Salad bar
Sandwiches
Paninis
Pasta bar
Jacket potatoes
Fruit
Hot and cold drinks
Snacks

TARIFF 2024

We aim to operate a cashless environment wherever possible at the school and we use the Parent Pay website (www.parentpay.com) as our preferred source of all financial transactions. A Parent Pay account will also allow you to monitor your child’s food choices by giving you a breakdown of their daily transactions.

Multiple parents/ guardians can have their own Parent Pay account should this be needed. If you are having trouble accessing Parent Pay please contact the finance office: finance@simonballe.herts.sch.uk

The School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme (SFVS) is an NHS programme that entitles every child aged 4-6 in fully state-funded schools to a piece of fruit or vegetable each school day.

The fruit and vegetables are delivered to us 3 times a week to ensure freshness.

Depending on the season, there’s a choice of:

bananas
apples
pears
carrots
tomatoes
easy-peel citrus fruits, such as satsumas

All the fruit and vegetables are washed before they’re handed out, which is usually just before the mid-morning break, normally in individual class groups.

They aren’t handed out at lunchtime – this ensures that the fruit and vegetables supplied aren’t simply replacing the fruit and vegetables that might have been eaten at lunchtime anyway.

More information on the scheme can be found on the NHS website here

The sixth form have access to the cafe throughout the day, as well as exclusive use of the ‘pod’ at lunch time.

All students in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are offered free school meals as part of the Government’s ‘Universal Infant Free School Meals’ scheme. Our current menu can be seen above.

We are passionate about every child receiving a free, hot, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime.