From September 2026, school meals at Fernhurst Primary School will be provided by ISS Education, who are taking over from Chartwells as part of a new West Sussex County Council contract. ISS will be bringing exciting new menus and a brand new online ordering system to make managing school meals easier than ever for families. Great news on price too, meals will be just £2.95 per day, which is 25p less than the current charge. If you think you may be eligible for Free School Meals then check the WSCC website and apply today www.westsussex.gov.uk/education-children-and-families/schools-and-colleges/free-school-meals/ . To find out more about what's coming, including menus and how the new ordering system will work, visit www.feedwestsussex.co.uk. If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact Mrs Bennett-Brown in the school office by email office@fernhurstprimary.chimat.uk.

 

Early Years and Key Stage 1 pupils

The Government announced that from September 2014 all pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 would receive a free school lunch (Universal Infant Free School Meals). Fernhurst Primary School is in the fortunate position that we have kitchens with sufficient capacity to provide hot meals for all our pupils.

If you have a child in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2 you simply need to use the online meal selector to choose which meals your child will have. We will automatically register your child to receive a free hot meal every day. If you do not feel that your child will eat or enjoy a hot meal then they may bring in a packed lunch. You will need to make this decision in advance so that you can select the meal they have - if you do not order the meal, they will not have a lunch available for your child.

 

Key Stage 2 Pupils

Unless you are in receipt of certain benefits and thereby eligible for free school meals you will have to pay if you want your child to receive a hot school meal. Bookings can only be made direct with Chartwells, our hot school meal provider. Details of how to order can be found on their website ParentPay or you can click on the links below for more information. We cannot take payment for meals at the school office.

 

 

What to do if you receive benefits

If you are in receipt of certain benefits your child may be eligible for Free School Meals. It's really easy to apply and by doing so you can really help the school receive extra funding that will benefit your child. This applies irrespective of what year they are in. For more information and details of how to apply, please follow the link below or speak to the school office.

WSCC Free School Meals

Packed lunches

If children prefer they can bring a packed lunch to school. Lunchboxes should be labelled and must include a drink. In order to maintain our ‘Healthy Schools’ status we ask that lunches do not contain sweets or chocolate, in line with Government expectations. We will do our best to encourage children to eat as much of their lunch as possible.

Children are asked to bring a drinks bottle which can be filled with water throughout the day. Bottles must be ‘named’ with a permanent marker and taken home each day to be washed.

Children in Key Stage 1 are offered a piece of fruit or vegetable at break times. However they may also bring in an additional fruit or vegetable snack from home if they wish. Snacks of any other nature are not allowed. Key Stage 2 children may bring in fruit or vegetable snack from home should they want one.

Please note that we have several children in the school that suffer from a life-threatening nut allergy. We would be grateful therefore if you could read and adhere to the information in the attached letter regarding nuts and nut products in school.

Nuts in school

School trips

If your child is on a school trip we always plan to give sufficient notice so that parents can cancel a meal. We ask all parents in the letter regarding the trip to provide their child with a packed lunch. Unfortunately, we are only able to provide packed lunches to pupils who are eligible to Pupil Premium funding and these need to be booked two weeks in advance to enable the kitchen to order the food needed.