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St. John's C. of E.Primary SchoolBelieve and Succeed

Lunchtime and Meals

School dining is a vital part of the overall whole school approach to supporting healthy lifestyles and healthy eating and over the last year we have made significant improvements to the quality and choice of the meals we offer. The school dining experience also helps develop social skills and learning and school meals provide 30% of a child’s daily energy requirement.

The lunch menus are based on detailed research to ensure that they meet the nutritional standards to ensure the children have a healthy, balanced diet over a weekly period. Evidence shows that good lunchtime nutrition has a beneficial effect on children’s learning.

We take great pride in our school meals here at St John’s and consult with our School Council on our menus so ensure the children are able to have an invaluable input.

We have at least two choices of hot meal each day including a vegetarian option plus a hot pudding and a choice of three other cold puddings. Your child does not have to have a hot dinner; the meal also covers the salad bar option of jacket potatoes with fillings, freshly made sandwiches, paninis and various cold desserts.

All pupils in Reception and Years 1 and 2 will be given a free school meal regardless of the income of their parents.

The benefits of children having a nutritionally balanced meal are well documented, but parents who qualify for, and apply for ‘eligibility based' Free School Meals for their child will also get extra funding paid to the school to support their learning. This funding is known as the Pupil Premium Grant and is paid at the rate of £1,300 per child.

Here at St John’s we utilise this funding to raise our children’s level of attainment and the wide range of initiatives we provide include extra teachers to provide focused teaching for pupils in reading and to create smaller ability groups for Maths in KS2, resources to facilitate this teaching, initiatives to address attendance issues, extra funding to broaden the curriculum and financial support for pupils attending trips.

The initiative raises a concern that parents on non-working benefits who would have previously qualified for ‘eligibility based’ free school meals will no longer apply as there will be no discernible benefit to them. This has a serious detriment to the school as we would lose £1,300 funding for your child if you meet this eligibility but do register your application.

To be eligible to apply you need to be in receipt of the following benefits:

Income Support or Income Based Jobseekers Allowance
Income Related Employment and Support Allowance
Child Tax Credit with an annual income of less than £16,190 providing you are not receiving the Working Tax Credit element
The ‘Guaranteed’ element of the State Pension Credit
Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
Universal Credit

Please note that those receiving Working Tax Credit, regardless of their income level, do not qualify.

Applications can be made directly online at www.bradford.gov.uk/schoolmeals or alternatively you can collect an application form from us or you can come into school and we will help you with your application. This will be done in the strictest of confidence.

If you have any further questions or queries please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Allen or Mrs Harris.