Lunch Time Arrangements

All children have a short break of 20 minutes during the morning.

The lunch period is staggered to avoid congestion in the playground. The children in Years 3 and 4 have a lunch break between 12.15 – 1.10 p.m. while children in years 5 and 6 have theirs between 12.25 – 1.20 p.m.

There are three options at lunchtime – a school dinner, a packed lunch or a meal at home. Children going home for lunch should be collected from the school office at 12.15 for the lower school and at 12.25 for the upper school, returning at 1.10 and 1.20 respectively. Children can alternate between school dinners and packed lunches as they wish, dinners are not pre-booked.

Children entitled to Free School Meals will need to complete a form twice yearly in March and September providing documentation to support their claim; applications are not accepted without the documentation and the right to re new free School Meals lies with the school if the evidence is not received. Free School Meals are available if you are entitled to Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance Income Based. Please ask the office for a form if you would like to apply for Free School Meals.

Children who pay for their school meals are issued with a PIN number which is used to apply credit to their account either via the Reval Machine or by cheque posted into the cheque box [cheques must be made payable to ‘Woodside Junior School’], both box and Reval are sited in the school entrance hall.

At no time should a pupil be in arrears for their school meals. Please make sure your child’s account is updated regularly during the week. Monday and Friday mornings are very busy and are best avoided [payment can be made for the whole term if you so wish] and if you expect your children to update it, make sure they have enough time to do so before school.

The School Catering contractor – Initial Catering -has produced a menu which offers children the choice of a main course each day with salad as an alternative to vegetables. In addition to the choice of deserts, there are fruit or yoghurt as alternatives. If your child has special dietary needs, e.g. vegetarian, non-meat, diabetic, food allergies, please inform the school office and other arrangements will be made, if possible. Copies of the menu are available from the School Office for a cost of 5p.

During the lunch break, the children are looked after by a team of Supervisory Assistants. The children play on the field (when the weather permits) and in the playground. On wet days, the children are looked after in their classrooms by the Supervisory Assistants.