Lunch

School lunches are prepared on the premises. The menu rotates every three weeks. Here is our menu: The dates are on the menu:

On Wednesday there is also a Halal chicken option.

On Wednesday there is also a Halal chicken option.On Wednesday there is also a Halal chicken option.

Here is some information about our caterers: Catering company information

Welcome to Olive Dining   

We are delighted to be the catering provider for your child’s primary school.

At Olive Dining, we are passionate and committed to providing healthy and delicious meals with the highest quality ingredients and our menus are full of variety and flavours to cater for everyone’s tastes.

The onsite team are skilled and knowledgeable about the food. Frozen Foods – the only frozen foods that are used in school lunches are chips and peas. All other ingredients are brought in fresh or are made on the school premises from raw ingredients. 

Desserts – our caterers use natural sugars and sweeteners where possible, in addition there is always an alternative so fruit, yoghurt or jelly. They don’t use chocolate in recipes rather cocoa powder

The desserts are fruit based and will contain a high percentage of fruit

The  menu as a whole is balanced – children are encouraged to take and eat fruit / salad and vegetables alongside any baked goods.e serve and can provide students with information to support specific diets or cultural choices.

Our menu changes three times per year and includes Chef’s specials other concepts.

We also have regular theme days to ensure innovation and variety

Here are some pictures of our lunch:

Every effort is made to keep to the menu for the week, but due to delivery problems or swaps made by the supplier changes may occur.  This is out of the control of both the kitchen and the school.

Lunch costs £2. 50 for Nursery.

Reception and KS1 meals are free paid for by the Government under Universal Free School Meals. KS2 meals are free for the academic year 2024/25 paid for by the Mayor of London. 

What is a healthy packed lunch?

A healthy packed lunch is a balanced meal providing a variety of nutrients, to be found in four food groups.

Don’t forget to include fruit and vegetables. You can use fresh, frozen, tinned or dried. Fruit and vegetables are full of vitamins, minerals and fibre necessary for the body to function properly and to keep you strong and healthy.

  • Add tomato, lettuce or beetroot to a sandwich.
  • A vegetable dish, such as salad or roast vegetables.
  • Fresh fruit, such as apple, banana or pear.
  • Dried fruit, such as raisins, apricots or figs.
  • Fruit salad (fresh or tinned in juice) or vegetable salad.
  • Finger foods, such as cherry tomatoes, cucumber sticks or slices of pepper. Good with a dip, such as houmous or guacamole.
  • Use fresh fruit and vegetables, which are in season to help the environment and enjoy variety!
  • All packed lunches should contain at least one portion of fruit and one portion of vegetable or salad.

For a healthier packed lunch:

  • Replace sweets and chocolate with dried fruit, a small bunch of grapes or fruit salad.
  • Replace cakes and pastries with fruit bread, malt loaf or fruit bagel.
  • Replace salted savoury snacks with rice cakes, breadsticks or plain popcorn.
  • Packed lunches would be better if they did not contain chocolate, sweets, salted savoury snacks or crisp-like products.

The school has a no nuts policy as some children are allergic to these. 

Practical Tips for a Healthy Lunchbox

  • Try to vary the contents of the lunchbox daily. That way you can ensure your child is getting the variety of nutrients their bodies need to function and grow.
  • Involve your child in preparing their lunchbox. They are more likely to enjoy food they have made themselves.
  • Wash your hands before handling food. Wash fruit and vegetables before use and put food in clean containers.
  • To keep food fresh, make sure it is stored properly: lunches packed the night before need to be stored in the fridge. If using rice, make sure it is cooled quickly and stored in the fridge overnight.
  • To keep your lunch fresh during the day, use a cool bag and put in a frozen drink or reusable ice pack.
  • If your child refuses to eat brown bread, try a lighter variety or make sandwiches using a slice of white and a slice of wholemeal bread.
  • For variety, use pitta strips, crackers, bread sticks, or fruit and vegetable finger foods with a dip.
  • Always try to add a little salad to a sandwich. To avoid soggy sandwiches, dry the salad before adding it to the sandwich or put it in a separate sandwich bag or tub.
  • You can use leftovers; for example, rice and curry, vegetable pizza or pasta and sauce.
  • Make a salad using rice, potato or pasta from the night before, mixed with vegetables, beans and so on.

Drinks

  • Drinks, especially water, help children to concentrate and feel well. Water is freely available in school.
  • The school would prefer children to drink water only.
  • Jugs of water and beakers are available on tables for all children to have

Packaging and rubbish

The Eco Council has  looked at packed lunches and recommends that sandwiches and other lunch items are put into reusable boxes to minimise rubbish. Packed lunch children can use the school’s cutlery and cups so there is no need to send these in. All uneaten food is sent home unless it is messy such as opened yoghurts.

Where lunchboxes are kept

The lunchbox shelter was paid for by the PTA. The lunch box shelter is used to store lunchboxes in all weather. The lunches are cool in the winter away from central heating. They are also kept dry. In the summer they are in the shade and again kept cooler than inside the warm buildings. parents are encouraged to provide ice blocks on the hottest days.

  • Lunch boxes should be put on the correct year group trolley when children come to school at 8.55am. they should be collected at 3.30pm.
  • Children are told when to get their bags for lunch.
  • KS1 children keep their lunch bags in boxes or on trolleys outside their classrooms.
  • Children should have a proper, named, lunch box and not just a plastic bag.
  • Snacks for break time SHOULD NOT be kept in lunchboxes. Children cannot access lunchboxes during break. There is a snack bowl in every classroom where children should put their snacks first thing in the morning.

All of the children are given a squirt of hand sanitiser before they go in to eat their lunch. Any children with filthy hands are asked to go and wash them.

Paying for your dinner money – School Money System

At Holly Park we use the School Money System so that parents can make  payments for school dinners. We encourage all parents whose children have a school lunch to use this system of payment.

How does it work?

If your child has any outstanding dinner money a text and an email will be sent to you advising  that your child is in dinner arrears with a password and a link to the website.  Each child has their own password to use.

Once this link has been clicked it will open a parent log in screen where you will need to input your mobile phone number, email address and password and log in.

A new screen will open asking for your child’s name, you only need to input your child’s first name and select confirm.

This will then log you into the payments screen, where you can see any dinner arrears and also if your account is in credit.

At the top of the screen is a history tab where if you click on this you will be directed to the transaction history page. Here you can see a breakdown of any payments you have made.  If you click on dinner eaten you will see a break down of meals/packed lunches that we have recorded for your child.

Any outstanding payments will be shown on the left hand side of the screen and you simply click on which outstanding item you wish to pay for.

The right hand side of the screen shows a green highlighted box stating top up, this is where you can add extra payments to your child’s account to put this in credit i.e if you wish to pay for the whole month/term etc.

Once you have selected the payments you wish to pay, click on make payment and this will take you to a new screen to enter your card details.  These details will need to be put in every time you want to pay as the system does not store any card details.

The system is very easy to use and parents have given us very positive feedback about it.

Teddy Bears’ Picnic

During the hot weather we enjoyed a picnic with our teddy bears.