School Meals

School Meals

Loddon Primary School lunches are freshly prepared daily and served by Caterlink https://caterlinkltd.co.uk/school/wokingham-borough-council/

A school lunch provides a healthy, nutritious and tasty meal.  Sitting down together helps develop children’s social skills and research suggests that a school meal can improve a child’s concentration.

A meat or fish, vegetarian and jacket potato options are offered every day with a healthy pudding option.  ** Jacket Potato option is not available on Fridays ** A copy of the latest menu is available for you to download at the bottom of this page or you can get a copy from the School Office.

Alternatively, children can bring their own packed lunch.

Allergies / Intolerances

You must make the school and Caterlink aware if your child has any food allergies or intolerances.  If your child has been tested by the NHS please provide a copy of any letters with the results to the School Office.  In order for Caterlink to cater for children safely we require the following from parents/carers before a school meal can be provided:

• Allergy Action Plan
• Caterlink Special Diet / Allergy Form
• Supporting NHS documentation following allergy testing
• The School Office will provide you with a safe menu from Caterlink for your child. This will support their particular dietary need and will need to be signed off by the parent/carer before a meal can be provided.

You may prefer to provide a packed lunch for your child.  However, please still make the school aware of any allergies / intolerances.  This is to ensure in the event we have to cater for your child (forgotten/lost lunch box/Christmas Dinner) we are providing a safe meal at all times.

Packed Lunches

At Loddon Primary School, we aim to encourage children to adopt a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle. 

What can I include in my child's packed lunch? 

• At least one portion of fruit 

• At least one portion of vegetables 

• One portion of meat, fish, eggs or non-dairy protein (e.g. hummus, beans) 

• A starchy food such as bread (e.g. white or brown rolls, chapatti, pitta bread or tortilla wraps), pasta, rice, couscous or noodles 

• A dairy food (e.g. yogurt, cheese)

• Either a packet of crisps or a couple of plain biscuits (e.g. digestive biscuits)

• A drink of water, semi-skimmed or skimmed milk (or dairy-free equivalent)

Please avoid adding these items to your child's packed lunch?

• Nuts

• Sweets

• Chocolate and chocolate-covered biscuits

• Cereal bars

• Processed fruit bars

• Pastry products (e.g. sausage rolls, pies, jam tarts, croissants)

• Sugary soft drinks (including sugar-free ones as they still cause tooth decay)

Packing a healthy packed lunch and supporting your child with healthy eating

Please click https://www.nhs.uk/healthier-families/recipes/healthier-lunchboxes/ for ideas for healthier packed lunches for your child.

What happens if I put unhealthy foods in my child’s packed lunch?

If we are concerned that your child is regularly bringing a packed lunch that does not meet healthy expectations and/or does not support your child to have sufficient energy for the afternoon in the school, then we will contact you to discuss this.

Healthy Snacks

Children are allowed to bring a healthy snack with them to school to have at break time. As a rule, we recommend a piece of fruit, a couple of plain biscuits or raw vegetables such as carrot or cucumber stick.

The same rules apply to snacks as to lunches so please refer to the list above to see which items children must not bring to school as a snack. If children do bring an inappropriate snack to school, such as a whole pack of biscuits or a large sharing bag of crisps, these may be removed from the child and returned to you at the end of the school day to take home. We will always remove nut items as we are a nut free school and have children on site with significant nut allergies. 

If you are finding it difficult to persuade your child to eat a healthy diet please seek support from our Parent Support Advisor who can offer guidance and support in this area.

Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM)

• Every child gets a free school meal from Reception, Year 1 and Year 2

A school lunch is priced at £2.53 for children in Year 3, 4, 5, or 6 (prices correct at September 2023) 

** An adult school lunch is priced at £3.04 (prices correct at September 2023) **

Free School Meals

To qualify for Free School Meals (FSM) for your child you must receive one of the following:

• Income support
• Income-based job seeker’s allowance
• Income-related employment and support allowance
• Child Tax Credit – provided you are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have and annual income that does not exceed £16,190
• The guarantee element of the State Pension Credit
• Universal Credit (your household income must be less than £7,400 a year)

Pupil Premium

To qualify for Pupil Premium (PP) for your child you must be receiving one of the following: Income support

• Income based jobseeker’s allowance
• Income related employment and support allowance
• Support under part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• The guaranteed element of the State Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit. This only applies if you’re not entitled to Working tax credit and your annual income is less than £16,190
• Working tax credit run on – this is paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit

Your child will also be eligible if they have:

• Been looked after by the local authority for 1 day or more
• Been adopted
• Left care under a special guardianship or residence order

How to apply for Free School Meals / Pupil Premium

Please find below a Wokingham Borough Council Application For Free School Meals form and Guidance Notes for Parents and Guardians.  Please download, complete and submit the form to School Office.

Schools Cash Office Payments (SCOPAY)

The ordering and payment of School Meals is facilitated via https://www.scopay.com/login or by downloading the SCOPAY app. Within the first week of your child joining, the School Office will send you an email inviting you to register on SCOPAY and will provide you with your unique individual link code that you will need to use when registering.  You must register within 72 hours otherwise the link code will expire and you will need to request another link code from the School Office.  If you do not have a SCOPAY account then either request this via the School Office or send an email to admin@loddon.wokingham.sch.uk requesting the creation of a SCOPAY account.

Every day in class during morning registration your child will be asked to make their school meal selection from the standard menu/special dietary menu for allergies and intolerances or confirm they have a packed lunch with them.  The cut-off each day for ordering is 9:30am.  Please ensure you make the School Office aware if your child has a pre-arranged appointment and will be arriving after 9:30am and they require a school meal.  Children arriving late to school after 9:30am cannot be guaranteed a school meal and you will be asked to supply a packed lunch. 

Alternatively, parents/carers can use SCOPAY to view the menu and pre-order in advance their child’s choice of meal or confirm they will be bringing a packed lunch.  Special dietary menus cannot be viewed on SCOPAY so please refer to the menu emailed to you before selecting your main, vegetarian or jacket options.

Payments can be made online via SCOPAY and we ask that your account is kept topped up and remains financially in credit.