Children attending Duncan Forbes School have various choices at
lunchtime.
School meals are prepared and served on the premises. The quality
of the meals is high, with a vegetarian alternative available most
days.
Fresh fruit is on offer every day.
The emphasis is on providing the children with a quality,
healthy and balanced meal. Menus follow a six week cycle and
are displayed in the dinner hall and in classrooms. Parents who wish
a copy of the menus should contact the school office (Tel: 01463
791897) – a small charge of 10p is made to help cover the costs of
photocopying.
Samples of our menus will be posted to the site
in due course.
Please note that on the days where peanut butter sandwiches are on
the menu an alternative without nut content will be provided
by our school cook.
There are two sittings a lunch time, one
for younger children and one for the older children. A school meal
costs £1.65 per day or may be free in certain circumstances.
In
Duncan Forbes we use a ‘Smartcard’ system for purchasing school
meals. Parents can send money into the school which is 'loaded' onto
the child’s card or credit in the case of free school meal
entitlement. The child takes the card along to the dinner hall where it is scanned
to pay for their meal. Application forms for a ‘Smartcard’ are available from
the school office.
If
you would like to apply for free school meals please contact the
school office, in confidence, for further information.
Some children prefer to go home and a crossing patroller is on duty
in Keppoch Road to assist children during lunch breaks.
Seating is made available in the dining hall to children who prefer
to bring a packed lunch from home. At Duncan Forbes we strongly
encourage healthy eating. Please help by providing your child with a
healthy snack and packed lunch, e.g. fruit, cereal bar, as
opposed to sweets, chocolate, crisps, fizzy drinks etc.
Healthy Eating
Some parents like to send in little treats for the class when it is
their child’s birthday. Class teachers will be happy to give these
out but please do not send in sweets as it against school policy for
these to be given out.
We
have a School Nutrition Action Group (SNAG) made up from parents,
staff, the school cook and pupils who work throughout the year on
projects promoting healthy eating. If you would like to be part of
this group please contact the school office.
In line with the Schools
(Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act all food provided in
school meets new nutritional standards. For example:-
-
Pre-packed savoury
snacks must be no larger than 25g and lower in fat and salt.
-
No confectionary can be
sold anywhere in the school. This means no chewing gum,
cereal bars, processed fruit bars or sweets. No products
containing chocolate, chocolate flavoured substances and
chocolate coatings are allowed. Cocoa powder (as opposed
to drinking chocolate) in cakes, biscuits and puddings is
acceptable.
-
Drinks guidance is much stricter
because sugary drinks are known to be one of the biggest factors
in causing obesity and dental decay. The only drinks that
can be provided in schools are water, milk, low sugar milk
shakes, fruit juice/vegetable juice or combinations of these,
e.g. smoothies.
Her Majesty's Inspectors of Education,
during a school inspection, will monitor a school's progress in
implementing the Act and comment on this in their overall evaluation
of the school.
In the better weather many more pupils
take packed lunches and although these new standards do not apply to
food and drink brought on to the premises by pupils we would still
wish to encourage healthy eating and nutritional packed lunches,
e.g. use of wholemeal bread; rolls or wraps; low fat sandwich
fillings; salads; vegetables; fruit; yoghurt; no fizzy drinks,
chocolate, confectionary, fatty, salty or sugary foods.
Please support us in keeping Duncan
Forbes a 'healthy eating school'.
