Our school lunches are provided by Taylor Shaw who work through Durham County Council. There is a Winter and a Summer menu which are put together following discussions with our School Council. All lunches provide the children with a balanced, nutritious and healthy meal. As a school we would recommend that your child chooses a school lunch. Our current school menu is shown below.
Packed Lunch
We encourage the children in our school to remain healthy through a variety of ways. We encourage regular exercise, eating healthily and drinking plenty of fresh water during the hot summer months. Our cooks provide a healthy hot lunch each day and we ask those parents, whose children stay for packed lunch, to be aware of the British Nutrition Foundation guidelines for healthy and nutritious packed lunches. As a school we would advise you to follow these recommendations. Our School Council will be promoting healthy eating this year and would like to remind parents and children that it is important to have a healthy packed lunch each day.
In addition, our Food in School Policy highlights the British Nutrition Foundation guidelines to parents to limit the inclusion of the following items in packed lunches:
- Sweets (including Winders), chocolate
- Crisps or any packeted savoury snacks high in salt and fat
- Fizzy drinks/sugary drinks
- Sweet cakes, e.g. sugary cakes, doughnuts
- Sweet nut bars
- Foods containing nuts (Please do not include products that contain nuts – we have children in school with severe nut allergies.)
Here are some ideas and tips to help:
Instead of cakes, chocolates and biscuits, try currant buns (without icing), fruit bread, tea cakes and malt loaf.
Always include a drink to help your child concentrate. Go for still/sparkling water, semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, or unsweetened fruit juice.
Cook some extra pasta, rice or potatoes with dinner the night before to make into an effortless and tasty salad for lunch the next day.
Freeze a carton of pure juice, milk or yoghurt and place in a mini sandwich bag. It will be defrosted by lunchtime and keep your lunchbox cool in the meantime!
Make easy swaps – for example, if your child likes something sweet, give them raisins or a small can or pot of chopped fruit instead of a chocolate bar. If they prefer savoury foods, ditch the crisps and give them plain popcorn, rice cakes or crunchy carrot sticks instead.
Keep a selection of breads in the freezer for sandwiches. Then you can just take out what you need for one days lunchbox and defrost it on a plate or in the microwave.
- Using a different type of bread each day can make lunchboxes more interesting. Try granary, wholemeal or whole white bread, pitta, fruit bread, bagels, English muffins, chapatti or wraps.
Don’t forget the dairy – low-fat custard, fromage frais, rice pudding or yoghurt are very popular and good for growing bones!
Provide fruit in small pots which are easy and quick to eat, e.g. chopped canned pineapple, satsuma pieces (peeled), raisins, dried apricots, grapes, peeled and chopped kiwi fruit.
When you are preparing vegetables or salad for dinner, cut up a few extra carrot, cucumber or celery sticks for lunch the next day to reduce the time spent preparing lunch!
CHILDREN LOVE PLAIN POPCORN!!
The School Council will be carrying out ‘lunch-box looks’ and will award certificates and stickers to children who have healthy packed lunches.
Read our school Guide to a Healthy Packed Lunch leaflet for more handy tips!