School Meals
We pride ourselves on providing a healthy varied menu which the Children of Kings Oak Primary School can choose from on a daily basis. We operate a cafeteria system at lunchtime where children can choose either a hot meal, a grab-a-bag (sandwiches, drink and a snack), jacket potato with a filling or pasta pots. Children can also choose a selection of fresh salad from our salad bar and pudding is also provided.
Please see below for further information regarding school meals;
Paying for meals
Our friendly catering team along with our lunchtime supervisors are always here to help your child receive their nutritious meal at lunchtime. All food is prepared fresh every day and is to the school meals healthy eating standards which you can read all about in this link: School Meals Healthy Eating Standards
Cost:
| Number of Days | Cost |
| 1 | £2.75 |
| 2 | £5.50 |
| 3 | £8.25 |
| 4 | £11.00 |
| 5 | £13.75 |
*Effective from September 2024
Please pay for school meals, school trips, uniforms, breakfast club, and activities through the School Gateway app. If you are unable to pay online please contact the school office who will issue a unique PayPoint card so you can pay by cash at many outlets or the post office.
Kings Oak Primary Learning Centre has adopted a strict NO DEBT policy relating to school meals and breakfast club. Money owed affects the school’s overall budget and must be settled promptly. You can read all about our no debt policy which you can read HERE.
Packed Lunches
We like to encourage our children to have a hot meal every day but if children prefer to have a packed lunch we do provide storage facilities for lunchboxes but cannot take legal responsibility for foods prepared at home and then brought into school; the school encourages the use of ice packs. We kindly request that parents do not include the following items in packed lunch boxes:
- Nuts of any description due to allergies
- Sweets and chocolate eg: Mars Bars (chocolate-covered biscuits, although not encouraged, are acceptable)
- Fizzy drinks (diluted juices and fresh fruit juice is acceptable)
To help with this please read our Healthy Lunch Box Tool Kit and our Healthy Lunch Box Policy.
If your child has special dietary requirements we encourage you to come and speak to our office staff who can help make the necessary arrangements.
Water Bottles & Lunchtime Drinks
At Lunchtime, children are allowed to bring in fruit juice or squash/dilute juice for their lunch but this drink should be kept in their lunch box and should not be sipped throughout the day. The nutritional information supplied to the school states that water is the healthiest and cheapest choice for quenching thirst throughout the school day and we encourage children to bring a water bottle to keep in the classroom and take with them at lunchtime. Water bottles can also be purchased from our reception for just £1.00. Water has no calories and contains no sugars that can damage teeth. It is recommended that if children do not like the taste of plain water, you should try adding a slice of lemon or lime.
Our Delicious School Menu - Winter 2024
Free School Meals
Your child will qualify for free school meals if they're in full-time education and you receive one of the following benefits:
- Income Support
- income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
- income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- guarantee element of state pension credit
- child tax credit with no working tax credit and have an income as assessed by the Inland Revenue that does not exceed £16,190 (subject to change annually)
- support under Part 1V of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you receive)
Children who receive a qualifying benefit in their own right are also entitled to receive free school meals.
Your child won’t qualify for free school meals if you're receiving working tax credits and disabled working tax credits, except for the 4-week run-on paid after you've stopped qualifying for working tax credits
Changes to Free School Meal Entitlement - Universal Credit Roll Out
From April 2018 the criteria used to determine which pupils are eligible for free school meals was updated to reflect the introduction of Universal Credit and the phasing out of other income-based benefits.
Transitional protection as part of Universal Credit rollout
To ensure families are not disadvantaged during this rollout, protection arrangements have been put in place.
This means that:
- Any child eligible for free school meals on 31 March 2018 will retain their eligibility until the end of the rollout, March 2022 regardless of whether their circumstances change.
- Any child who becomes eligible during the rollout of universal credit (from 1 April 2018 to March 2022) will retain their eligibility until the end of the rollout, March 2022 regardless of whether their circumstances change.
- Once the rollout of universal credit is complete, no child will lose their entitlement and will continue to be transitionally protected until the end of their current phase of education.
Transitional Protection applies to all children whether eligible through legacy benefits or Universal Credit.
A pupil is only eligible to receive a free school meal when a claim for the meal has been made on their behalf and we have verified their eligibility. We will continue to use the DfE Eligibility Checking System (ECS) to determine eligibility for free school meals.
Transitional protection is on an individual child basis and not on a family basis. This means that other children in the family will not automatically be entitled to free school meals. Children must meet the eligibility criteria at the time the application for free school meals is made in order to be entitled.
Universal Infant School Meal
All infant-age pupils (Reception/Years 1 and 2) are entitled to receive a free school meal.
Although infant children will automatically receive a free school meal, we're asking families who have a statutory entitlement to free school meals to complete an application form online so that we can check if the school is entitled to receive Pupil Premium for your child.
The Pupil Premium grant is provided by the Government for each eligible child and can be up to £1,320 additional funding to support your child's education and fund valuable support and resources in school.
Even if you don’t want your child to receive a free school meal, we'd ask you to complete the application form so that your child’s school receives as much funding as possible.
If you need any help you can contact Barnsley Borough County Council Benefits, Taxation & Payments Customer service team on 01226 787787 or call to our School Reception.