SCHOOL MEALS

“Students’ understanding of the importance of healthy lifestyles is good.”

(Ofsted Report 2008 - full report available here)

 “Cucina” (the Italian word for kitchen or a place where food is prepared) have been appointed as our new on-site caterers with effect from September 2009. 

Cucina’s philosophy centres on the premise that eating well is crucial to improving I.Q. and behaviour, as well as academic and athletic success.  Cucina makes meals fun and helps students to broaden their knowledge and appreciation of food.

What students will see:

Students can see dishes being freshly prepared such as home-made fresh pasta from Cucina’s own pasta maker, home-made pizza being served fresh from a professional pizza oven, daily fruit smoothies, fresh bread made on the premises daily, as well as a wide variety of freshly prepared main meals, salads, sandwiches, fruit pots and desserts and mouth-watering home-made muesli bars, muffins and cakes.

New food-based requirements for school lunches developed by the Schools Food Trust were introduced in September 2006.  These requirements will be further enhanced to include nutrient based standards from September 2009.  Cucina’s food offer already exceeds these and supports their aim of setting a new benchmark for food service. Cucina also plans to develop a range of sports meals to assist our sports teams whilst on their travels … every little helps!

As well as fresh food for breakfast, break and lunch each day there will be “Take Home Deals” too, such as a freshly baked 14” pizza all boxed and ready to take away after school!  Students will also be able to take home rotisserie chickens and freshly made pasta and sauces for evening meals with the family.

View Cucina’s current menus here: Kitchen Menus   Lunch Menus    Prices

We operate a cashless system for our catering service with Cucina.  Parents will pay in advance for pupils’ school meals, crediting the pupils’ account with the amount paid in.  Individual pupils are identified at the till by an automated biometric system, with the cost of their meal being deducted from the credit, paid for by the parent.

The biometric system we are using is based on fingerprint recognition technology which stores numerical values derived from fingerprints and not the actual image of a fingerprint.   Once the fingerprint is taken and converted into a numerical value it is this number which identifies the child.  The school does not keep an image of the fingerprint and the numerical value cannot recreate an image of the fingerprint.  This data will be handled in the same way as all other data in the school and will be subject to the Data Protection Act 1998.  It will not be passed on to any third party and will be deleted once your child leaves the school.

There are several advantages to cashless catering. Pupils in receipt of free school meals are not identifiable; pupils do not need cash to pay for their meals, reducing the opportunity for loss or theft and the service is speeded up.   The biometric system has additional advantages as the pupils do not have to remember to bring anything with them to the dining hall; nothing can be lost such as the smart cards used in the past; there is no cost of replacement cards and no chance of other pupils trying to use your child’s card.

Money can be paid into the system by cash (via the Revaluation Station, at the entrance to the Dining Hall) or by Cheque made out to Cucina and placed in the Post Box provided at the top of the ramp in the Dining Hall and can now also be added via the internet payments system – Please note your statement will show ‘Cucina Restaurants Ltd’.  Please write the full Name of the Pupil and his/her Form on the back of the cheque and place in an envelope.

Students may alternatively bring a packed lunch. These are to be eaten in the dining area or the outside picnic area.
The school is also able to provide parents with a report detailing each item of food served, each credit made to the system, for any time period and show a current balance upon request.  If you wish, we can programme a daily ‘spend limit’ into the system. This can be increased or decreased for an individual pupil by making a written request to the school.

FREE SCHOOL MEALS: ARE YOU ELIGIBLE?

If you currently receive one of the following benefits:

• Income support or
• Income-based jobseeker’s allowance or
• Income-related employment and support allowance or
• Pension credit (guarantee credit) or
• Child Tax Credit with a taxable income of no more than £16 190 (from April 2010) and not in receipt of working Tax Credit,

you may also be eligible to receive Free School Meals.

For those pupils who are entitled to Free School Meals, their purchases are processed in exactly the same system as all other pupils, and they are free to choose from any of the items available in the cafeteria. Our caterers Cucina allow students eligible for Free School Meals to select two items from the lunchtime menu, regardless of the normal selling price, for the amount of the current Free School Meal allowance. This could include, for example, soup and a main course, main course and a pudding, soup and a sandwich, salad and a drink, or even a slice of homemade pizza and a cake. 

It is easy to apply for Free School Meals. All you need to do is fill in your application form online or phone the Customer Service Centre and the rest will be done for you. Your application will be processed within seven days. The sooner you apply the better - successful applications will no longer be backdated to the start of the current term – they can only be backdated to the date on which the Free School Meals application is made

To apply log on to www.hertsdirect.org/freeschoolmeals or phone the Customer Service Centre on 0300 123 4048