Since September 2017, Whiteheath Infant & Nursery School has been in partnership with The Pantry, who have supplied us with wholesome, nutritional and varied hot meals for our children, together with packed lunches for when we have trips away from the school.

The Pantry supply both delicious hot meals and a sandwich/roll option.

This service is free to families, for all children in Key Stage 1 (Reception, Year 1 & 2).

We request that, where possible, parents/carers do not send in a packed lunch.

The hot meals consist of a main dish with vegetables followed by fruit or pudding. For pupils who select the sandwich/roll option, the main will be replaced by a sandwich/roll and the pupil will continue to receive vegetables, fruit or pudding each day. All pupils will in addition be able to help themselves to the salad bar. Fresh drinking water is also provided.

Children with allergies and dietary requirements will also be catered for, once you have notified and made arrangements for this with The Pantry, an individually named meal will be sent for your child each day.

Overall benefits of your child having a school lunch:

• This will safeguard our children with food allergies. We have several children and staff members with severe, life-threatening allergies and on a weekly basis we are having to confiscate allergen food items brought from home packed lunches.
• The average saving per family in a academic year (190 days) will be £427.50 per child, this is based on the cost of each meal being £2.25.
• You will be able to book your choices through The Pantry’s website by the Sunday prior to the consumption week and change previously chosen meals.
• For our parents, this will ease the burden of having to send in a packed lunch each day, shop for lunch box items each week and of course will remove the ‘thinking of what to buy’ dilemma that we face each day.  It will also relieve the stress caused to both our children, parents and staff alike, when a packed lunch has been forgotten.  This will also reduce concerns of home packed lunches being left on trolleys. If you have forgotten to make your weekly order, this will also be checked by The Pantry, where they will automatically send in a spare lunch to us and call you to advise.

• All ordering is to be done via The Pantry website: www.thepantrycatering.co.uk
• Once on our page just follow the link ‘Hot School Meal’. There is a short video on the page to show you how to set them up and how it works. Once you have registered your child/children you will receive a login and password and you can view our amazing menu and show your child/children what they can have to eat. Meals can be ordered for a whole term. If on the other hand you would like to order weekly please note that all meal orders must be made by midnight on Sunday evenings to be applicable for the following week.
• Our website is PC/Tablet and smartphone friendly so you can order your child/children’s meal from anywhere.

For any further information and to register your child/children please visit www.thepantrycatering.co.uk or telephone their office 0208 813 7040.