Healthy, well-balanced school meals are cooked here on our premises daily. We make provision for children who are vegetarian or who have allergies. We encourage the children to eat a school lunch, especially the younger ones, as we believe it is important to have a hot meal at lunchtime.
Children may bring a packed lunch if they prefer or if they have specific dietary requirements which cannot be met by the catering company. This should be a balanced meal with no crisps, chocolate or fizzy drinks.
Children can opt to change from school lunch to packed lunch and vice versa, but this can only happen at half-termly intervals, by informing the staff in the School Office.
We are a nut and seed free school!
Payment for school meals can be made weekly, half-termly or termly using the online payments system – School Gateway.
As the government introduced Universal Infant Free School Meals, all Reception and KS1 receive a free school meal.
The cost of a school meal is £2.95 per day, (£14.75 per week). St Mary Abbots has achieved Bronze Award Status in the Healthy Schools London programme.
Free School Meals
Parents are encouraged to use the new LGfL ‘Free School Meals / Pupil Premium Service’ web site – to quickly and easily check eligibility for free school meals and, if eligible, also gain welcome additional funding for the school, known as ‘Pupil Premium’ – currently £1,320!
If eligible, you are not obliged to accept the free school meals for your child if you wish to make other arrangements, but we do want to encourage applications as the additional funding gained would still benefit education provision at the school.
What the service does for parents
After entering essential details into the web site, the online application process links to the Department for Education system for checking eligibility and gives an immediate ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response, and will notify the school.
This system is being provided to encourage parents to apply and take advantage of free school meals while at the same time increasing the benefit to schools from Pupil Premium funding, a substantial amount of which does not reach schools because not all parents who are eligible apply for free meals for their child.
By way of a ‘thank you’ to parents for taking part, and regardless of individual outcomes, The London Grid for Learning (LGfL) would like to provide parents of children attending LGfL-connected schools with Sophos Anti-Virus software, free of charge, to protect the computers used by pupils at home.
To gain access to this software there is a short registration process which will also give you access, if required, to other LGfL services and benefits that are available to your child’s school. Please be assured there is no catch, no cost and no advertising. LGfL (a UK education charity set up in 2001 and owned by London’s 33 local authorities) exists to support education and is leading this initiative to make it easier for parents to apply for free school meals and to encourage the drawdown of unclaimed Pupil Premium.
What the service does for schools
As the government has provided free school meals for all children in Reception and Key Stage 1 and the Mayor of London does so for Key Stage 2, it is more important than ever for schools to know the number of pupils for whom they can claim ‘Pupil Premium’ funding. These funds enable schools to retain support staff and invest in additional equipment, resources and activities to the benefit all children.
Please visit https://pps.lgfl.org.uk/ enter the necessary details and support this worthwhile initiative.
Free School Meals in Key Stage 2
The Mayor of London has introduced free school meals for the 2023/2024 academic year for all primary school children regardless of income. This now includes children in Key Stage 2. However, we still need you to apply for free meals if you are receiving tax credits or benefits. This will allow us to claim important extra funding that will benefit your child.
Schools get extra funding, known as the ‘Pupil Premium’, for every child registered as eligible for a free school meal, if their parents are receiving benefits.
Schools use this money for activities such as art therapy, booster classes, educational trips and after-school clubs. Please note that children entitled to ‘Pupil Premium’ funding are also entitled to school holiday supermarket vouchers.