At Winford C of E Primary School we use Aspens Services Ltd to provide our school meal service. Aspens provides food which meets national Food Standards Criteria. All meals meet the government guidelines for a nutritionally balanced diet.

Universal Free School Meals are available to all children in Reception, KS1 (Year 1 and Year 2) meaning you won't have to pay a penny for a school meal!  Please just make your meal choice on ‘Select’, Aspen’s meal booking system.

Order meals on Select

The cost of a school meal for KS2 children (Years 3, 4, 5 & 6) is £2.80 a day payable in advance on Select.  Parents and children are encouraged to choose the meals they would like to order on a weekly basis. You can choose to have a packed lunch from home one day and a hot school meal the next - it is very flexible.

There is a choice of a hot school meal, which usually contains meat, a vegetarian option, a jacket potato or sandwiches. All meals are served with their choice of vegetables or salad and a piece of bread. Pudding is either a hot pudding, yoghurt or fruit salad and the children choose this when they get to the lunch hall. Jugs of water are on every table and all children are encouraged to drink, if they haven’t already helped themselves. Particularly in Key Stage 1, we ask that you encourage your child to try a variety of meals and vegetables or salad.

If your child has any special medical dietary requirements, please notify the School Office. Should you have concerns over what or how much your child is eating, please speak to their class teacher. Equally, if the lunchtime staff notice that a child isn’t eating much on a regular basis, we will let you know.

Alternatively, your child may wish to bring a packed lunch, which is eaten in the School Hall or outside in the warmer weather.  Packed lunches should be in a secure, named container.  No sweets are allowed – instead, we encourage lots of fruit or vegetables.  Water is available to all children who choose a packed lunch.  However, your child would like to bring their own drink in a non-breakable container please make sure it is clearly named and no fizzy drinks please.

SEE THE NHS CHANGE4LIFE WEBSITE FOR HEALTHY, TASTY LUNCHBOX IDEAS.

Free School Meals

Free School Meals are also available to some children according to family situation.  It is important to register for Free School Meals, whatever age your child is, even if they are entitled to Universal Free School Meals – this is because the School can gain additional funding (called Pupil Premium) which can be used to help your child in many different ways.

Children are entitled to Free School Meals if their parents, carers or guardians receive any of the following:

• income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
• Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit with annual Take Home Pay/Net Earnings below £7,400 (which equals £616.67 per month) benefits not included

Please come and speak to us if you think you could apply for free school meals or apply directly through North Somerset Council. 

Apply online for Free School Meals

School Snack Guidelines

Most children require a snack at morning break to keep them going through the day.

We encourage children to bring in healthy snacks full of vitamins and minerals containing no added salt, fat or sugar. Many of these will help contribute to their 5 daily portions of fruit and vegetables, keep them alert and help them concentrate. It can be hard during the week to think of suitable items for them to bring in to school, but we are aiming, with the help of the children, to not only support them in making healthy choices regarding snacks, but to also reduce food packaging and waste. 

Providing snacks in a small, named, recyclable container is ideal. Children in EYFS and KS1 have a daily snack of fruit or veg provided for free by the government, so additional snacks for these ages may not be required.

If you are intending to send in healthy snacks with your child please limit them to the list below. 

• Vegetable sticks – such as celery, cucumber, peppers or carrot, a range of colour ensures different vitamins and minerals. 
• A piece of cheddar cheese or Babybel 
• A piece of fresh or dried fruit, high in soluble fibre and vitamins would also be a great snack– pineapple, mango, kiwi, plain raisins, apricots, blueberries, banana slices. 
• Bread sticks, plain pretzels, banana bread, malt loaf, oat/rice cakes and small pitta breads are also good snacks, providing children with carbohydrate to sustain them in-between meals. 
• Homemade snack - flapjacks or other oat/whole grain based snack. These must be nut free. Items brought into school should be carefully checked by you, to ensure this. Winford has pupils who are severely allergic to a range of nuts. 

We are aiming for a common-sense approach, with the key being to keep it healthy and no chocolate, sweets or crisps.

We need the children to stay hydrated and so please ensure they bring a named water bottle into school daily. Squash and fruit juice are not permitted. We hope that with your help, we can encourage the children to develop healthy eating habits that become a normal part of everyday life. By keeping high calorie snacks to a minimum and establishing healthy eating habits early on, improvements can be made for a child’s quality of life both in the short and long term.