Meals currently cost £1.90 per day (£9.50 per week) for a twocourse meal and a drink. Cooked meals are served in the school hall each lunchtime and children wishing to bring a packed lunch from home may do so. We ask for your help in sending a sensible packed lunch for your child, so promoting our healthy eating policy. Please include a piece of fruit and, at most, just one small chocolate bar. (Remember to label lunchboxes as many other children may have an identical box!) No bottles or cans are allowed at lunch time or on any other occasion for safety reasons. Children are supervised at lunchtime by the Midday Supervisors.

Dinner money must be paid on a Monday morning or the first day back after illness. Payment, if possible, should be made by cheque payable to C.C.B.C. Please put the cheque / dinner money in an envelope and mark the envelope with your child’s name, class, the amount enclosed and the days on which your child is staying for dinner. If your child is absent for any reason, credits will be carried over to the following week. Caerphilly’s policy is that school meals will be stopped to those children whose arrears run to two weeks. Parents who are in receipt of income support or job seekers’ allowance can apply for free school meals. Application forms for free meals are available from the school office.

We will advise you, as necessary, as to the cost of school meals as and when the it changes.

Free School Meals

I am writing to ask you to consider whether your child may be eligible for free school meals. If your child is eligible for free school meals it means they can enjoy delicious, healthy meals without the bills and the fuss of making packed lunches. Many children at our school are already eating free school meals, and your child may be able to have them too. School meals will give your child a real appetite for learning and help them to achieve their full potential.

There is nothing healthier for your child and your family’s budget than free school meals. As professional cooks prepare the meals for your child, it saves you having to worry about the effort and expense of making packed lunches every day.

Your child may be entitled to receive free school meals if you are entitled to receive one of the following:

• Income Support 
• Income-Related Employment and Support Allowance
• Income-Based Job Seekers Allowance
• Child Tax Credit (but no Working Tax Credit is being received by the claimant or his/her partner and the combined annual income as assessed by HMIR on a TC602 form is not above £16,190)
• The Guaranteed Element of Pension Tax Credit.
• Asylum Seeker under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

If you pay for your child to have school meals you could save around £580 per year if your child qualifies for free school meals.

If you access free school meals you will also be entitled to a one-off clothing grant of £105 for your child when they are moving from primary school to their first year of secondary school.

Think of the time you would save if your child is eligible and has free school meals instead of packed lunches, you could save up to 190 hours a year, which is the time needed to make packed lunches that meet the nutritional standards of school meals – that’s just over a week!

Our school will also receive £1050 additional funding for every child registered for Free School Meals. This funding must be directly targeted at Free School Meal pupils. 

I am writing to all parents and carers to ask them to make a claim if they believe that they may be entitled to claim free school meals for their children and do not already do so. Our catering team provides an excellent range of healthy lunch options that are enjoyed daily by a significant number of our pupils. Your child may well be able to access these free of charge.

To make sure that your child does not miss out, please complete the form on the reverse of this letter for your children or online at www.caerphilly.gov.uk or if you are not sure, please contact Catering Services on 01495 235262 (or email catering@caerphilly.gov.uk). A member of the team will be able to advise you.