School Meals

NYES Catering provide the School Meals here at Brooklands

School meals can provide a healthy and nutritionally balanced meal for your child every day.

Our NYES Catering service provides school meals to many of the schools in North Yorkshire, as well as many schools in the surrounding area, with the aim of bringing enjoyment to school lunchtimes with local, fresh, great quality food being at the heart of what we do.

We follow a healthy eating policy, with 75% of our food produced daily in a school kitchen. We provide:

• Red tractor approved fresh meat and poultry
• Free-range eggs and sustainably caught fish
• A menu that is fully compliant to the School Food Standards
• Fruit and vegetables sourced regionally where possible using local suppliers to promote local businesses and reduce our carbon footprint
• Products free from additives associated with health problems in young children
• A menu that is nutritionally analysed, as well as being checked by a registered nutritionist
• Information and menu guidance on any specific dietary requirements any staff or pupils may have
• Fats free from hydrogenated oils
• Menus that are nutritionally balanced.

You can view our school meals food policy here.

NYES Catering hold Food for Life accreditation which recognises that we are committed to serving fresh, healthy, and sustainable meals using local food producers.

NYES Catering are also the current holders of the Association of Public Service Excellence (APSE) award for Best Service Team. The APSE awards recognise the very best in public services, receiving nominations from across the UK.

Our primary school menus:

• Are changed twice a year to reflect the seasons
• Have a three-week menu cycle, allowing children to become familiar with the food served
• Are written using feedback from pupils, parents, carers, cooks and school staff.

We also offer jacket potatoes and sandwiches.

Our menus are also available in multiple additional languages: Arabic, Dari, Malay, Pashto, Romanian, Ukrainian. All menus can be downloaded from the North Yorkshire Council website here.

We host fun promotional event days throughout the year with special menus to add an extra “buzz” to school lunches. Recent examples include Build a Burger, Best of British and Street Food. These exciting one-off menus are shared with the school ahead of the day; please ask the school for more information.

If your child has an allergy to one of the 14 allergens, intolerance, or allergy to any food not included in the 14 allergens, or any other special dietary requirement, please talk to us and we will try to accommodate their requirements. Our cooks and catering managers are fully trained and updated in special dietary management. More information can be found on the North Yorkshire Council website here and we have a Special Diet Welcome Pack which can be downloaded from this page on the NYES Catering website. Please contact the headteacher in the first instance, stating the required diet and our team will be in touch.

For more information and answers to some frequently asked questions visit the North Yorkshire Council school meals webpage.

 School Meals at Brooklands cost £3.50 a day/£17.50 a week. 

Free school Meals

All children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are entitled to free school meals under the Universal Infant Free School Meal Scheme.

Free School Meals are also available for all pupils whose families receive financial support. Find out more on the North Yorkshire Council website free school meals page

Free school meals for all years for pupils whose families receive financial support

If you get certain benefits, your child could also qualify for free school meals during all school years. To qualify you must be receiving:

• Universal Credit, provided you have an annual net earned income of no more than £7,400, as assessed by earnings from up to three of your most recent assessment periods (£616.67 per month)
• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• support under part six of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guarantee element of Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit, provided you are also not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual household gross income that does not exceed £16,190 (as assessed by HMRC)
• Working Tax Credit run-on, paid for four weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit

Please note that contributions-based benefits, including contribution-related Jobseekers' Allowance do not entitle you to claim free school meals.

Apply for free school meals

You will receive an instant decision on whether your application is successful. If it is, we will fully process the application in five working days and notify the school. Once the school have received this your child can begin enjoying free school meals. You should continue to pay until confirmation comes through. Schools may be able to arrange reimbursement of payment made while your entitlement is being confirmed.

Free school meals claims cannot be backdated. They are awarded from the date we receive the application, once eligibility is confirmed. This is because there is a legal requirement for a request to be made, before a free school meal can be provided. If you are not entitled to free school meals, you will be notified in writing.

Once a year we will now be looking to find households who appear to qualify for free school meals but have not made an application. We will contact the families we have identified directly by letter to explain how we can help automatically enrol them onto free schools meals if they wish to receive them.

Packed Lunches

You may choose to provide your child with a packed lunch. 

Please label all food containers and bags with your child’s name. The school will provide a storage area / facilities for packed lunch bags, in the most convenient and appropriate place possible. However the school cannot provide cooled storage areas and therefore cannot take  responsibility for foods prepared at home and then brought into school. We are also unable to heat/ re-heat food at school, apart from in exceptional circumstances.   However, pupils are able to bring hot food in a suitable thermos flask or container.

School Lunch Menu