School Meals

Our catering is provided by Hertfordshire Catering who have many years’ experience and provide a top quality service at reasonable prices.  We are able to provide a service that suits our customers’ ever changing needs.

We believe that food is not only an essential part of everyday living, but should be an enjoyable nutritional educational experience, held within a social circle.

We cater for all kinds of nutritional needs, including special diets. If your child requires a special diet, please make us aware of their specific needs.

Meal of the Day

We provide daily a choice of a main meal and a pudding. We also offer meal deals. For example, jacket potato and filling, pasta dish or hot meal with either a pudding, a piece of fruit or a chiller deal. Fresh water is available from the various dispensers around the school.

Free School Meals

From the start of the 2026 to 2027 academic year, the Department for Education (DfE) is delivering an expansion to FSM eligibility to include all pupils from households in receipt of Universal Credit. There will then be 2 categories of FSM:

• Targeted FSM, which continues to be based on the existing £7,400 income threshold
• Expanded FSM, which will apply to meals only, covering pupils who do not qualify for Targeted FSM, but who are in households in receipt of Universal Credit

Please check to see if your child qualifies for Free School Meals. Your child may be able to get free school meals if you get any of the following:

• Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be £7,400 a year or less (after tax and not including any benefits you get)
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit

Children who get paid these benefits directly, instead of through a parent or guardian, can also get free school meals.

From the start of academic year 2026 to 2027, your child will qualify for free school meals if you get Universal Credit, regardless of household income.

If you do not qualify for most benefits (also known as having ‘no recourse to public funds’), your child may still be eligible for free school meals. Ask their school or local authority whether they’re eligible.

To check if your son/daughter could be eligible for free school meals please follow the link below.

https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals

Live Register System

We use the Live Register cashless catering system which enables lunches to be paid for in advance. This helps us to serve food more quickly and reduce the time that students spend queueing for their food. Initially we will set a limit on the daily spend per student of £8.00 although this can be varied by request.

We have chosen the Live Register system as this uses the latest biometric technology to scan a student’s finger. This generates a unique number to identify your child and allows them to spend the money that you have put on their cashless account. The finger scan image is not stored and cannot be used by any other system; it is a very simple process.

Funds are loaded on to the student’s account using ParentPay, an online secure site that you can access via our website once students have started with us. No cash can be taken in the canteen at any time.