School Lunches
Dear Parents
I am delighted to share an exciting update regarding our school dinners. From Monday 13 April 2026, we will be welcoming Innovate as our new catering provider. We are very much looking forward to this positive change, and we hope your child will enjoy the new dining experience as much as we believe they will. Innovate are passionate about providing delicious, nutritious, and balanced meals that fuel the children throughout their school day. Their commitment to fresh ingredients, sustainability, and allergen awareness ensures that every pupil can enjoy a meal tailored to their needs.
Innovate have provided a warm welcome message from their Regional Operations Manager, Adam Gridley.
Innovate provide our school meals which are cooked on-site in our dedicated kitchen. The children are offered a choice of meals, which have to be pre-ordered using the parent ordering platform - SchoolGrid.
What You Need to Do
On Thursday, 2nd April 2026, parents who are registered as Priority 1 contacts will receive a welcome email directly from SchoolGrid. This email will contain instructions on how to activate your child's account and create your password. The login emails have a 24 hour expiry link and parents will be sent a daily email until they have registered with the system.
To set up your child's account, the school will securely share the necessary parent and pupil information with SchoolGrid. You can view their Privacy Policy here
Ordering Meals
- Meals can be ordered daily, weekly, monthly or even on a termly basis.
- You can also make a same-day order up to 8:55 am.
- The office are unable to place the order for you. If you do not order a school dinner, your child will be offered a jacket potato with/without beans.
If your child receives free school meals, you must still place the order through the SchoolGrid App.
Please note there is now a separate Halal menu option each day.
If you require a hard copy of the menu please contact the school office.
Timings
Lunchtimes are from 11.45am - 12.45pm (KS1 children) and 12:15pm - 1:15pm (KS2 children). All children will have their lunch in the main school dining hall.
Paying for Meals
School meals are free for all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 under the Government Universal Free School Meal (UIFSM) scheme. We still ask parents to pre-order the free school meal on the SchoolGrid App in advance.
For children in Years 3 - 6, all dinner money should be paid via the SchoolGrid App when placing your child's order. The school dinner is £2.61 per meal.
To place a meal order, your account must have sufficient credit. If not, you will receive a reminder message, and you will be unable to complete the order.
Cancellations
If your child will not be taking their meal, please remember to cancel the order on the App before 8.55am. If you do not cancel, you may still be charged. Cancelling also helps us reduce food waste.
Allergy and Dietary Requirements
Common allergens can be entered onto the SchoolGrid App and Innovate will block any unsafe options by eliminating them from your child’s pre ordering; it will also inform the cook on the lunchtime screen.
The Allergy Aware Menu offers popular and nutritious meal options whilst also being suitable for children with allergies to gluten, milk, egg and soya. These allergens were identified as the most commonly reported in primary schools. If your child has an allergy outside of these four, we will provide full allergen information on our core recipes and ingredients, which can be used to make meal selections for your child from the main menu.
Please note, we do not add any nuts, peanuts or sesame, or any foods that may contain nuts, peanuts or sesame, into our primary menus, so if your child has an allergy to only nuts, peanuts or sesame then the main primary school menu is suitable.
Each day the Allergen Aware Menu offers three main meals to choose from, including a jacket potato option. In addition, there is access to a salad bar and the choice between a dessert, fresh fruit or jelly.
Parents or carers will be required to complete an online form and provide the necessary information, including photo identification and any relevant medical documentation. Once the form has been submitted, a member of the Innovate team will contact the parent or carer to discuss and agree on a suitable menu for the pupil.
The confirmed allergen and dietary information will then be shared with the site Chef Manager to ensure the appropriate arrangements are in place.
Please note that Innovate will treat the dietary information submitted through the form as accurate. If there are any discrepancies between the information provided and the school’s MIS records, this will be flagged to the school office. In such cases, Innovate will notify the school so that the MIS records can be updated, ensuring consistency across systems.
Free School Meals
Your child/children may be entitled to receive free school meals if you receive:
- Income Support
- Universal Credit (provided your earned income is no more than £616.67 in the last Universal Credit assessment period)
- income related Employment and Support Allowance
- income based Job Seekers Allowance
- support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- Child Tax Credit only with an income of less than £16,190
- the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
If you believe your child/children may be eligible for free school meals you must apply online via the Hertfordshire County Council website https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/schools-and-education/at-school/free-school-meals/free-school-meals.aspx
Please note that if you are in receipt of Free School Meals, these will still need to be pre-ordered on the Impact Food App
Packed lunches
Parents can provide a packed lunch for their children if this is the preferred option. Packed lunches are to be in a named lunch box or lunch bag. We kindly ask parents not to provide sweets and fizzy drinks and in the interest of safeguarding children with allergies ask that parents refrain from providing foods that contain nuts or sesame.
Provide your child with enough food to give them enough energy to get through a busy school day, but please do not feel you have to provide more than is necessary. The children are also provided with a healthy snack of a fruit or vegetable item and a drink at school and can access this whenever they wish to have it.
Snacks
For children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 no snacks are permitted at mid-morning break but as participants in the free Fruit and Vegetables for School scheme all pupils are entitled to whichever fruit or vegetable is on offer that day.
Children in Years 3 - 6 we encourage children to bring a healthy snack (fresh or dried fruit or vegetables) for break time.
Need Help?
If you have any questions or need support, you can contact the support team:
- Email: support@schoolgrid.co.uk
- Phone: 01506 300310
