Adwick Park Junior School is a healthy school and we encourage the children to eat a balanced diet.

School dinners are provided by the Schools Catering Service, which is separate to the school. However, the catering service does try to work with the school to promote health. As you all know, there has been a lot of talk about the quality of school meals—and changes have been made in Doncaster. However, our school meals have never been the same as the awful ones portrayed by Jamie Oliver!! The kitchen staff here work very hard to provide nutritious meals. There are freshly cooked vegetables, and there is always a salad and fruit choice.

There is a choice menu—besides the salad, children can choose between a hot meal or a sandwich / wrap meal, and a choice of carbohydrate, such as potatoes, or bread / rice (dependent on the meal choice), and a vegetable choice. There is a range of puddings— a hot pudding is available, plus a selection of Yoghurt, milk and biscuit, often a cake choice, fresh fruit, fruit salad, or a jelly or mousse. Not all choices are there every day, but there is always a good selection. A menu is available for parents to view what is available each term.

Children take it in turns to go into dinner first. Because there are usually about 200 children eating dinner, by time the last sitting goes in, not all choices may be available. However, there is ALWAYS enough good food to eat. But of course, the cooks cannot always please all the children and occasionally we find we have a child who will not eat any of the choices available, whether they are in first or last! Unfortunately, we find that children will then go home and say that they had nothing to eat because there was nothing for them—this is never the case. The kitchen staff would not leave a child without any food– indeed they work very hard to make sure even the fussiest child is accommodated.

If you do have any concerns about the dinners, please do let us know, and we will either pass it on to the cook, or ask her to speak to you herself—she is very happy to do this.

From September 2007, a school dinner will cost £1.50 a day, £7.50 a week. Dinner money should be paid in full on a Monday morning. Children should bring their money to school in an envelope clearly marked with their name, class and the amount / number of days dinner is required. (special envelopes are available from school). We must have two weeks notice of children changing from school dinners to sandwiches.

Children may bring sandwiches to school instead of having a school dinner.  Children have to leave their sandwiches in their classroom until they are required. Children on sandwiches go into lunch at the same time as the rest of their class.

We do try to encourage healthy packed lunches, and ask that parents limit the amount of sugary foods included—fresh fruit and yoghurts are much better than sweets, cakes or biscuits (see expectations). If you are looking for advice and ideas about what to put in your child's lunchbox, you can find some advice on the BBC website.

In addition, every child in school is offered a choice of a piece of fruit daily as a morning playtime snack. It is well known that eating fresh fruit provides plenty of vitamins and minerals to growing bodies and is a healthy option for children to snack on.