School Meals
From September 2026, our school meals will be provided by Aspens Services Ltd.
Aspens specialises in catering for schools and understands the importance of providing children with nutritious, enjoyable meals throughout the school day. Their catering teams prepare fresh meals each day, with a varied menu offering choices to suit a range of tastes and dietary requirements.
For more information about Aspens and the catering service they provide, please take a look at their information leaflet or visit the Aspens Services website.
Menu
School Meal Costs
As part of the Government’s Universal Infant Free School Meals scheme, all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are entitled to a free school meal each day.
For children in Nursery and Years 3 to 6, school meals cost £2.80 per day, unless your child is eligible and registered for Free School Meals.
To find out more about Free School Meals and whether your child may be eligible, please visit our Pupil Premium page.
Allergy Safety
At Whyteleafe Primary School & Nursery, we take the health, safety and wellbeing of children with allergies very seriously. We aim to provide a safe and inclusive environment where every child can take part fully in school life.
We work closely with parents and carers, our catering provider and healthcare professionals to ensure appropriate arrangements are in place for children with allergies, food intolerances and medical dietary requirements.
Our approach is informed by the Department for Education’s statutory guidance on allergy safety in schools.
What Parents and Carers Need to Do
If your child has an allergy, food intolerance or medical dietary requirement, it is important that we have the correct and most up-to-date information.
Please:
- Inform the school office of any allergies, intolerances or medical dietary requirements as soon as possible.
- Complete the Aspens Allergy and Medical Diet Request Form where your child requires a medical diet. A member of the Aspens team will contact you to discuss your child’s individual requirements and suitable meal options. Please allow up to 10 working days for this process once all required information has been received.
- Complete any additional documentation requested by the school, such as an Individual Healthcare Plan.
- Let us know promptly if there are any changes to your child’s condition, treatment or medication.
- Ensure any prescribed emergency medication, including adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs), is in date and available in school.
Further Information
For further information about allergies or medical dietary requirements, please contact the school office. For queries relating specifically to your child’s Aspens medical diet application, please contact Aspens directly.
You can view the following documents for more information:
Aspens and SchoolGrid Primary Allergy Policy
Ordering Meals with SchoolGrid
We use SchoolGrid, an online meal ordering and payment system to manage school meals.
Through SchoolGrid parents and carers can:
- View menus and meal choices
- Order meals in advance
- make payments securely online
- Manage dietary and allergy information
Meals must be ordered by 9am on the day they are required, although orders can be placed up to a term in advance.
If you need help setting up a SchoolGrid account, please contact the school office.
If you need technical support or troubleshooting help, please contact SchoolGrid helpdesk at:
- Email: support@schoolgrid.co.uk
- Telephone: 01506 300 310
Food Brought into School - including Packed Lunches
Whyteleafe Primary School & Nursery is a nut-free school. This is an important part of helping us protect children and members of our school community who have serious allergies.
Please do not send any nuts or products containing nuts into school. This includes food brought in as part of packed lunches, snacks, celebrations or special events. We ask parents and carers to check ingredient labels carefully before sending food into school.
To help us keep everyone safe:
- Children should not share food, drinks, snacks, lunchbox items, utensils or food containers.
- Any food brought into school for celebrations, special events or curriculum activities must be agreed with the school in advance.
- Where food is provided for a school event, clear ingredient and allergen information must be available.
We appreciate the support of all our families in helping us maintain a safe environment for children with allergies. By working together, we can also help children understand the importance of allergy awareness and respecting the medical needs of others.
Healthy Eating
We encourage children to develop healthy eating habits and ask parents and carers to support us with this.
Please do not include sweets, chocolate, fizzy drinks or glass bottles in your child’s packed lunch.
If you have any questions about allergies, medical diets or the support available to your child - please contact the School Office.
