School Meals
MENU – Winter 2024 / 2025
Images of the options on the menu can be found here:
PRICES
From 1st April 2024, the price of a school lunch is £3.30 per day, £16.50 per week.
From 1st April 2025, the price of a school lunch will increase to £3.45 per day, £17.25 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 £3.30 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 £3.30 credited on your account. If you wish to place a week’s worth of meals (Mon-Fri), you need to have at least £16.50 on your account.
Each time your child has a meal, your account will be charged accordingly and you will have £3.30 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:-
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.
SCHOOL MILK
Panshanger Primary School offers school milk via Dairy Link’s online ordering system. Please find below the guidance on ordering school milk for your child.
Please visit their website www.dairylink-uk.com .
You will need to click on the ‘order milk’ tab, register with them, add your child/children on the ‘children’ tab. (Please check your spam folder should you not receive your confirmation email).
OVER 5 CHILDREN
Click on the ‘payments’ tab and you will then be able to select as many terms or half terms as you wish to pay for. You will receive an automated email as a reminder to place your orders for the relevant term.
UNDER 5 CHILDREN
Please input their date of birth and the system will allow to order without paying for the milk. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS WILL NEED TO BE PAID FOR FROM MONDAY OF THE WEEK OF THEIR 5TH BIRTHDAY. You will receive a reminder email for this – it will need to be ordered by Tuesday the week before the free milk expires.
FREE SCHOOL MEALS CHILDREN
If your child receives free milk under the FSM scheme then please contact the school, you do not need to register online.
Please can you ensure that when your child moves into the next year group, you change their class in their details as otherwise they may not receive their milk.