School Meals

Lunch at School

School meals are freshly prepared, by our school catering team, each day on the premises. Our meals are of a high standard and wide variety.  The children have a choice of hot meals, salads/sandwiches and a choice of dessert.  All our meals comply with government standards developed by the School Food Trust. 

Children may bring a packed lunch if preferred.  If your child does bring a packed lunch please ensure that it is in a sealed, plastic container with the child's name clearly marked.  No hot drinks or glass containers are permitted for safety reasons.  As with our school meals, we encourage a healthy lunchbox - check out this NHS Link for quick and easy healthy lunch ideas.

If you want to change your child's lunch arrangements (from packed lunch to school meal or vice versa) you must notify the school office and give two weeks notice. Failure to do so could result in you being charged for meals that have not been taken.

Pupils are encouraged to eat healthily and to show courtesy and good manners at the table.

Click to Download Lunch Menu - Sept 2021 [pdf 323KB] Click to Download

Dinner Money

School meals are £12.75 per week (which is £2.55 per day).

We cannot accept cheque's or cash for dinners taken. Dinner money must be paid via the School Money App and is payable in advance on a Monday for the coming week. You will receive a reminder if dinner money is not paid promptly.

Please use this link to the School Money App - School Money

If you have any problems using the app, please contact the school office staff.

Apply for Free School Meals

Your child may be able to get free school meals if you get any of the following:

  • Income Support
  • income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
  • income-related Employment and Support Allowance
  • support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
  • the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
  • Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
  • Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
  • Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

Children who get paid these benefits directly, instead of through a parent or guardian, can also get free school meals.

If you think that you may be eligible for free school meals please use the following link - Oldham Council Free School Meals for further information and the application process.

 

Birthday Treats

Birthdays and celebrations are an important part of school life. There are various non-food ways of celebrating birthday’s in school.

Due to our ‘Healthy Eating School’ status and Health and Safety concerns around allergies we ask that parents do not send ‘edible’ treats in to school to celebrate their child’s birthday.  If parents would like to celebrate with gifts for their child’s class they could perhaps send small items such as pencils, rubbers or a book that is donated for use by the entire class.

 

School Water Bottles

Please continue to support the school's Healthy School's policy to ensure that your child brings a clean, fresh water bottle to school. No squash and cordials please.

Healthy School Award

St Margaret’s has signed up to the Positive Steps Oldham 'Healthy Schools' programme, with an aim of gaining a 'Healthy School' status.

To achieve this award the school has to meet certain criteria based on PSHE, Healthy Eating, Physical Activity, and Emotional Health and Well-being.

As part of the programme we are intending to implement a ‘Whole School Food Policy’ and a 'Packed lunch monitoring and reward scheme'. We will work with children and families to encourage parents providing packed lunches to provide healthy options; examples of healthy lunch-box items are ham, chicken, cheese or tuna sandwich, salad, fruit, yoghurt, carrot sticks etc.

All our school meals are nutritionally balanced and comply with government standards developed by the School Food Trust.