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School Meals Information

MENU – Summer 2024 & Autumn 2024

PRICES

From April 2023, the price of a school lunch is £3.15 per day, £15.75 per week.

FOR PARENTS:

HCL Grid Guidance Parents Leaflet Information

1. Accounts are set up by SchoolGrid and parents will receive this information by email to the address you have given to school.

2. You can access The School Grid meal selection and payment system here https://schoolgrid.co.uk/ or via the SchoolGrid app.

3. Parents can order from home for the whole term in advance.

4. There is an 8.55am cut off in the morning for any parents ordering meals for that day.

5. If your child is not going to be in school and you have pre-ordered a meal, you will need to cancel / remove this by 8.55am or unfortunately you will be charged for that meal.

6. Any children with food allergies or intolerances requiring special diets; once registered with HCL https://www.hcl.co.uk/allergy-overview please follow the instructions below:-

We advise that parents refer to the special dietary menu specific to their child and select the category of the dish you wish your child to have from the special diet menu:

Main Meal 1 – Meat/Meat free option

Main Meal 2 – Vegetarian choice

Side Dish – Usually Bread / Pasta / Potato / Rice

Cold Option – Sandwich / Roll / Baguette

By selecting the category this tells the kitchen staff which option to prepare from your special diet menu. If you keep a copy of the current menu that’s running in your Child’s school next to your special menu this will help you.

MAKING PAYMENTS ON SCHOOLGRID

Children in Reception, years 1 and 2 are entitled to Universal Free School Meals, therefore no pre-payment is required.

Children in years 3, 4, 5 and 6 must pre-pay for their meals (unless entitled to *free school meals). Meals are currently charged at £3.15 per day. Payment can be made by debit/credit card or Direct Debit which is by far the easiest and most convenient way to manage your child’s account. Details can be found on the SchoolGrid app.

Make a card payment through your SchoolGrid account by clicking on ‘Account’ then ‘Make Card Payment’ (if you login using a mobile phone you will need to select the 3 lines at the top right hand side first of all and then select ‘Account’).

Alternatively, set up a Direct Debit through your SchoolGrid account, by clicking on ‘Account’ then ‘Direct Debit’ (if you login using a mobile phone you will need to select the 3 lines at the top right hand side first of all and then select ‘Account’). Select ‘Sign Up’ and confirm the set up following the direct debit guarantee page.

HOW CARD PAYMENTS WORK:

You need to ensure that you have enough credit balance on your account to cover the orders you are placing. For example, if you wish to order one meal, you need at least £3.15 credited on your account. If you wish to place a week’s worth of meals (Mon-Fri), you need to have at least £15.75 on your account.

Each time your child has a meal, your account will be charged accordingly and you will have £3.15 deducted from your credit balance. You can top up your account as often as you like – daily, weekly, monthly, etc. If you do not have credit on your account, or an active Direct Debit set up, then you will receive an error message when trying to place an order, reminding you to either make a card payment or set up a Direct Debit.

HOW DIRECT DEBIT WORKS:

SchoolGrid collect your Direct Debit on HCL’s behalf on a monthly basis and they are collected in arrears. You are only charged for the meals that are collected at lunchtime so your direct debit amount can vary depending on the amount of meals taken.

The date is on or around the first of the month, depending on if the first falls on a weekend or a bank holiday. You can change this to on or around the fifteenth of the month by going to the ‘Account’ then ‘Direct Debit’ section. You just need to click on the ‘Change Collection Date’ button.

SchoolGrid send you a statement on the caterer’s behalf around two weeks prior to your collection and this will tell you the exact date it is going to be collected and how

much the collection is going to be. It also details all of the meals that are included in the collection.

You will be able to log into your SchoolGrid account as often as you like and it will give you a running total of what your direct debit is going to be.

FREE SCHOOL MEALS

If you think your child may be entitled to *Free School Meals, please go to the link below to apply:-

https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/schools-and-education/at-school/free-school-meals/free-school-meals.aspx

If your application is accepted, please contact the school office to inform them. Your child will receive free school meals the day after your application has been accepted.