School Dinners

Parents may choose whether their child brings a packed lunch from home or purchases a school meal on a daily basis. Meals can be paid for on the day or a week in advance. All Reception, Year One and Year Two children are entitled to a free hot school meal under the Universal Free School Meals for Infants programme and are therefore not required to pay for their meal.

School dinners are cooked on site by staff who work for Norse (our school catering team). Menus are provided twice a year so that parents (and children) know what is on the menu each day. All school meals comply with school food standards and the nutritional guidelines that are set down by the School Food Trust. Water and milk is freely available to drink. Further information about the meals provided by Norse can be found on their website  www.norsecatering.co.uk.

A school meal currently costs £2.30. School dinners can be paid for a week in advance in cash or by cheque (made payable to East Harling Primary School and Nursery), or on a daily basis. Junior children should bring their school dinner monies to school in a clearly named envelope with a school dinner monies slip enclosed showing the amount enclosed and the meals paid for. All dinner monies will be handled through the school office.

Copies of the current school menu can be found below:

Spring summer menu 2022

 All dinner monies should be sent into the school office in a named envelope. 

Is my child entitled to free school meals?

Children of families receiving any of the following may be able to get free school meals:

• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
• Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

If you are receiving one of these benefits please apply online via https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/education-and-learning/schools/school-meals-and-milk or contact the school office to obtain an application form.

You can also print a copy of the free school meals application form here.

Once entitlement has been assessed children can continue to receive free school meals until the family stops receiving a qualifying benefit. Parents are required to inform the authority of any changes and regular checks will be carried out against records held by the Department of Work and Pensions, the Home Office and HM Revenue & Customs by the free school meals team.

Schools receive additional funding, called Pupil Premium, for those children entitled to free school meals. Therefore it is important that families, who meet the criteria for free school meals, apply to Norfolk County Council for this entitlement, even if their child is in Reception, Year One, Year Two or do not wish to take up this offer, otherwise we may miss out on this important funding to support our children.