School Meals

Herts Catering Ltd.

Herts Catering Ltd. make all our school meals using fresh ingredients and are cooked on site daily. They provide the children with healthy, nutritious meals designed for children by a nutritionist. The menu is published to parents/carers on a regular basis so you can see what will be available on any given day. The menu consists of a variety of meat options, vegetarian options, jacket potato options with various fillings (for our creatures of habit!) and cold options (such as a sandwich/roll/baguette/wrap). HCL also celebrate various occasions and incorporate these into their menu planning, for example, Christmas and Children in Need etc.

All children in Reception, Year One and Year Two are eligible to receive a free school meal via the Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) grant. School meals for children in Key Stage Two (and who are not in receipt of Free School Meals) currently cost £3.30 each. Please note, this is reviewed annually, and any price increases are communicated with parents/carers in advance.

The latest menu can be found below.

HCL Menu Summer-Autumn 2025 (4MB)

Special Menus

As well as informing the school via the admission form which you have completed, it is vital that you also inform HCL directly should your child have any allergies or dietary requirements as they may require a special menu. Further information about how to inform HCL can be found by following this link. Please note that you will be required to provide medical evidence.

SchoolGrid

  • Prior to each child starting at GRPA, emergency contact one (taken from the Admission Form which you have completed) will be sent an activation email enabling them to activate their account. Please note that only one parent/carer is initially given access to a SchoolGrid account. This is because only one parent/carer can have a ‘Standard Account’ which allows you to order and make payment. Another account can be created upon request, but please note that this will be an ‘Order Only’ account to which you will not be able to make payment.
  • Once set up, you can order meals via the SchoolGrid website, weeks in advance (which we strongly encourage) or by 8.55am each day.
  • When your child queues for their lunch, they will simply select their name on the touchscreen (assisted by staff initially) and their order will be displayed for the kitchen staff to process.
  • If you fail to order your child a meal and do not send them in with a packed lunch, they will be provided with a cold option by default, and correspondence will be sent informing you of this and to prevent it from happening again.
  • Children in Reception and Key Stage One are eligible for Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM), so for children in Key Stage Two, parents/carers will need to add sufficient funds to their child’s account to cover the cost of any lunches ordered (you can even set up a direct debit!) and meals will be deducted from this balance. It is important to keep a credit balance on your child’s account to ensure that funds are available. If your account falls into arrears, reminder emails will be sent to prompt you to top up your account.
  • For children in Key Stage Two who are absent from school, parents/carers do not pay for any meals ordered on the days in which their child is absent as we ensure that orders are cancelled each morning if they are not in school.

Packed Lunches

For children who are provided with a packed lunch, they should bring it to school in an appropriate, insulated lunchbox which should be clearly named. We would encourage you to provide a healthy, balanced lunch, ensuring no fizzy drinks, confectionery or sweets are provided.  Please note that we aim to be a nut-free school, we therefore ask parents/carers to avoid providing their child with any food containing nuts, regardless of their nutritional value. Children do not need to bring a drink with their packed lunch as water is available.