School Lunches

Click here for our three week menu for the Autumn Term 2024.

Here at Dalmain we use a catering provider called The Pantry.

To support parents with their children's food choices and to encourage positive discussions around healthy eating, The Pantry's website enables families to select their child’s meals from the 3 week rotating menu. The children are provided with the selected meal in school as per this choice.

Please click HERE to log into The Pantry’s website.

School meals can be booked for the day, week, month or term. You have to 9am on the day to decide.

If your child is on a school trip you can choose a packed lunch from the trips and events page on their website.

Currently, the Mayor of London is funding free meals for all pupils from Reception - Year 6. All children in these year groups are entitled to a free meal.

Please inform us if your child has any dietary needs and we will liaise with The Pantry to contact you directly.

If you have any questions regarding meals please email attendance@dalmian.lewisham.sch.uk or it it is to do with a trip or allergies please email office@dalmain.lewisham.sch.uk.

Packed lunches should consist of sandwiches / pasta salad, fruit, raw vegetables and a healthy dessert. We ask that parents do not include chocolate bars as we encourage children to eat a healthy meal at lunchtime. Children are not allowed to bring sweets or nuts to school.

 

Water is available in every classroom for children to drink when they become thirsty. Each child has a tumbler labelled with his/her name to drink out of, or can bring a bottle of water from home. We do not allow soft drinks in school. Only water is allowed.

 

Pupils can choose either to have a school dinner every day or to bring a packed lunch every day. Pupils have the opportunity to change their default dinner option at the start of every half term, but we will need to be notified in writing by the end of the previous half term. Please click here for the form to change meal option.

More guidance on a healthy packed lunch box can be found here.

Free Meal Entitlement

You are entitled to free school meals if you are in receipt of the following:

• Income Support
• Income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance
• Employment support allowance (income related)
• Child Tax Credit, without working Tax Credit and with an annual income below £16,190
• Universal Credit
• Guarantee Element on Pension Credit
• Support under Part vi of the Asylum Act 1999

 

If you think you may be entitled to free school meals, you can call Lewisham Pupil Support on 020 8314 6221 between 10am and 4pm – they will be able to give you a decision immediately.  We strongly encourage parents and carers to apply for this benefit if they are eligible, as the school receives additional Pupil Premium funding for every child that is entitled to free school meals.  In 2023-24 the Pupil Premium amount per pupil is £1,480.  Click here for more information about the Pupil Premium and how we spend it.

All children in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 are entitled to a Universal Free School Meal.

Please ask in the school office for further details on how to apply for free meals, or for any other information about school meals, or read this letter from Pupil Support which contains important information about Free School Meals and how to apply online.

Healthy Eating Policy

We encourage healthy eating as part of a whole-school initiative.  You can click here to read the school’s Healthy Eating Policy.