We are very fortunate to have a fantastic team of catering staff at Oldswinford, who provide a varied menu with a choice of hot meals, vegetarian meals, jacket potatoes and 'Grab Bags'.

In addition to this they regularly hold 'special lunches' to celebrate events, the latest of which was Easter (complete with bunny ears for all the staff!); HM Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee complete with bunting, flags and decorated cupcakes; and the Football World Cup.

In March 2022, the kitchen was awarded a 5 star rating for hygiene.

Lunches cost £2.40 per day.

We are thrilled to report that following parent feedback, from 3rd November we will be moving to an online system for parents/carers to order their child's lunchtime meal and pay (if applicable).

We will be using Parentmail for this system, which we hope all parents will be familiar with and have log in details for already. We have attached some guidance notes below from Parentmail to help you navigate the system. The system is now 'live' on parent's accounts.

Parents with children in all year groups can order (and pay for, if applicable) a Grab Bag; but only parents with children in Foundation Stage, Year 1 and Year 2 will be able to choose from the full menu

Unfortunately, Box Meals which children in Years 3-6 can order 1 day per week will still have to be ordered and paid for in the normal way by your child telling their teacher during morning registration.

All main meals on offer each day have been uploaded to the system, so you will be able to choose what your child has. We have not added the side dishes or desserts - children will be able to pick their own. If you would like to see what side dishes and desserts are on offer each day, please see the menus at the bottom of this page.

In an effort to pre-empt many of the questions you may have, please see below:

• In order to ensure that the kitchen is able to order the correct number of portions of each main meal on offer and reduce food waste, you must order 7 days before. You will receive a reminder 2 days before the purchase window closes if you haven't already ordered a meal. Please note: this means that you will need to place your order for the first week back after October half term by no later than 27th October (during the half term holiday).
• You will be able to book meals and pay up to 5 weeks in advance.
• Any dietary information (eg: vegetarian) has been added for each meal.
• A Gluten-free option is add to all menus for those children with this dietary requirement.
• If you opt for a Grab Bag on any of the days, you will still need to ensure that you complete a 'Grab Bag slip' on the day you have selected for your child to have it and send it in to his/her class teacher. Unfortunately, there is no way for you to indicate the type of sandwich filling, bread, fruit etc. that your child would like on the Parentmail system. A copy of the Grab Bag slip is saved below.
• If your child is entitled to Free School Meals, this information has been added to the system, so you will still need to choose the main meal your child has but there will be no charge for this.
• If your child's dinner account is in credit or debit this will be added to the online system on Friday 23rd October as up until that point the balance could keep changing.
• The system is set up that when your account drops below £5 credit you will receive an alert to ask that you add more credit.
• The system is set up that if your account is in more than £10 debt, you will be unable to order a meal.
• If you have ordered and paid for a meal for your child which they haven't taken (e.g.: due to absence from school because of illness), we can adjust the account and reimburse you for this meal. If this hasn't happened automatically for you, then please send an email to: contact@oldswinford.dudley.sch.uk
• If for any reason, you need a meal for your child but have missed the purchase window or your child has forgotten their packed lunch one day we will always ensure that there are extra jacket potatoes with various fillings on offer that your child can have and add this to your account - no child will go hungry.

As with all new systems, we anticipate that there will be a few teething issues, if you are experiencing any problems with logging on, ordering food or making payments, please send an email to the following address and someone will get back to you as soon as possible: contact@oldswinford.dudley.sch.uk

Children's lunches sent from home

Can we please highlight to all Parents/Carers the following;

Please can we remind all Parents/Carers that children’s lunches sent from home are free from nut products, and that no nuts are brought into school as treats or snacks for the safety of other children and adults in school.

Thank you for your support.