Our School Meals

We are enthusiastic about school lunches at Robin Hood Junior School.  We run a 5 star food hygiene rated in-house school restaurant, Tuck Inn, with a dedicated catering team, led by Mrs Brooker, our Catering Manager.

Our team devise their own menus and trial them with the children to see what works best for everyone and are available to meet with parents to ensure their child’s particular allergy or dietary needs are included in the food on offer.  The two weekly menu also shows the allergens in each dish and if you would like further information about the allergens included within the menu, please contact the school office. 

All meals are freshly prepared on site and there is a choice of main courses, including a vegetarian and halal option and pudding/fruit. Our school meals are healthy and balanced and comply with the government’s nutritional standards.

For one year from September 2023, state primary and junior schools in London will be providing a free school meal to every child who would like one. This is being paid for by the Mayor for London's Office.  As we are expecting many more children to have a school lunch, the meal pattern options are either to have a school meal every day OR to have a school meal just on a Friday.

Further details are included in the Robin Report above.

Please have a look at the menu and if appropriate, please go through this with your child before committing to the full week dinner pattern.  We aim for all children to eat at least 75% of their meal, whether it is a packed lunch from home or a school cooked meal.  Thank you.

Free School Meal Eligibility

It is important to register for entitlement to free school meals even if your child has a "free" meal or a packed lunch – this is so we can receive additional funding called the pupil premium which we can use to help your child.  For more information and to see whether you are eligible please visit the London Borough of Sutton Free School Meals webpage  and apply online by completing the form. 

You can also ask the School Office to check your eligibility online using the LGFL website  or use a computer at your local library or the Civic Offices.  If you think you may be eligible and would like the Office to check for you, please visit or email the school office with your own National Insurance (or NASS) number, your own date of birth and your full name.

Packed Lunches

Children may bring a packed lunch in a secure container and the drink should be provided in a non-breakable container.  No sweets, fizzy drinks or any form of chocolate spread are allowed – instead, we encourage lots of fruit, vegetables and water.  For healthy and nutritious ideas of what to include in your child's packed lunch, please look at these two helpful links:

https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/recipes/healthier-lunchboxes

http://www.nutritionist-resource.org.uk/loveable-lunchboxes

Milk

Milk is provided at lunchtime every day and is available for any child via the servery.

Allergy Awareness

Some of our children have nut allergies that may lead to severe reactions even if they only touch something that has come into contact with nuts.  

• We would really appreciate your support in making sure that all foods brought into school are free from nuts. 
• This is why we ask that you don't use chocolate spreads as it is impossible for us to tell which do contain nuts.
• Please check the labels on cereal bars and other snacks carefully too as sometimes information is contained on outside packets which does not come into school and please note that pesto often contains nuts too.

We do sometimes have other dangerous allergies and if we need to respond to this we will let you know.  For this reason, please remind your children not to share their food.

Encouraging Good Table Manners

We encourage good table manners and would welcome parental support to remind children of good manners at mealtimes, as outlined in our October 2015 Robin Report.