School Meals
Our school meals service
Our school meals are provided by BCBC Catering Service, freshly prepared on site. Parents may choose for their child to either have a cooked meal or packed lunch each day (provided by BCBC Catering) or provide a packed lunch of their own. A three-week menu is provided which is usually changed twice a year.
Dietary Requirements
Vegetarian/vegan options are available, please inform us in writing if you wish your child to take up this option. If your child has any allergies or specific medical or religious dietary requirements, please inform the school and an individual menu will be developed and agreed with parents to meet those needs. All school meals comply with “The Healthy Eating in Schools (Nutritional Standards and Requirements) (Wales) Regulations 2013”.
We encourage pupils to have school meals, especially our younger pupils, as this can greatly help pupils to develop knife/fork skills, try a wider range of foods than they may do at home and also helps staff to identify if children are eating all their food. For Years 1-6, there is a choice of meals each day but this is not available for Nursery and Reception pupils as their meals are taken to them at their tables by staff.
Payments
All payments for school meals are made in advance through BCBCs ‘Cashless Catering’ system. This is set up once pupils are registered with the school.
Parents whose children may be eligible for free school meals should contact Bridgend County Borough Council to apply. Further information is available here.
As of April 2024, all pupils in Nursery through to Year 4 are eligible to receive free school meals. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 and Year 4 are expected to be eligible to receive free school meals from September 2024 (to be confirmed by Bridgend County Borough Council).
Packed Lunches
Where pupils bring their own packed lunch, we expect parents to ensure that their packed lunches are healthy (see WG Healthy Lunchboxes leaflet). Glass containers, cans, fizzy drinks and sweets are not allowed. Beyond this, we would urge a sensible approach to providing a balanced lunch in containers that the children are able to handle independently and require minimal support from staff. We ask that parents avoid their children bringing nut products (e.g. fruit bars containing nuts, hazelnut spread) as part of packed lunches to help us avoid potential difficulties for pupils with nut allergies. (This does not extend to products marked ‘may contain nuts’)
