Lunchtimes and Snack
At lunchtime the children may choose between:
Having a hot school dinner, freshly cooked on the school site. Each day the children may chose between a meat based meal, a vegetarian meal, a jacket potato with a range of fillings or a prepared sandwich. Each day there is a choice of a hot pudding, yogurt or fruit. The children choose a coloured band to show what they are having for lunch and the meals are then cooked to order. Taylor Shaw's menus are on a 3 week rotation and the school calendar will make it clear which week we are on so you can discuss lunch choices with your child. All children from reception to Year 2 are provided with a free school meal under the Government Infant Free School Meal arrangement. Meals are currently £2.30 a day. This must be paid in advance and must be done through Schoolcomms. You may still send cash on Monday morning but please make sure it is in an envelope with your child's name and class on, stating clearly it is dinner money. Any cheques must be made payable to 'Sheffield City Council' for dinner money cheques.
You may send a packed lunch from home. We would ask that you send your child with a healthy selection of food, try to include fruit and vegetables with only one sweet treat like a biscuit. No fizzy drinks please, water or juice is best. Please do not send too much food as we like the children to enjoy play as part of the lunchtime period.
Going home for lunch. Children would need to be collected at 12 noon and be back in time for afternoon registration at 1 pm. Y5/Y6 lunchtime is from 12.30 pm to 1.30 pm. You would need to collect them from the office and need to enter the school from the top entrance on Marlcliffe Road.
NUT FREE SCHOOL
We have a number of children in school who have a severe allergy to nuts. In order to reduce the risk to those children who may suffer an anaphylactic reaction we aim to be a nut free school. As a nut free school, any foodstuffs with nuts or nut products should not be brought into school. Where many food items state 'may contain nuts', these items are permitted. When preparing your child’s packed lunch please ensure that you do not include any products containing nuts. This includes items such as peanut butter, cereal bars with nuts,and Nutella. If you are unsure, please check the ingredients on the label.
SNACKS
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, recyclablecontainer 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. KS2 (Year 3-Year 6) children have a ‘Tuck Shop’ where healthy items are on sale at morning break.
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, cereal bars and small pitta breads are also good snacks, providing children with carbohydrate to sustain them in-between meals.
Snacks must be nut free. Items brought into school should be carefully checked by you, to ensure this. We have 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.