Lunchtime & School Meals
What Happens At Lunchtime?
At Uphill Village Academy we have a team of lunchtime supervisors. Our aim is to ensure that the children in our care are happy and safe. At lunchtimes all children and adults are valued and respected.
The Dining Hall
In the dining hall we supervise the children eating their lunch and encourage good manners and healthy eating. Within the sittings children having packed lunches and children having hot dinners sit and eat together. The children are encouraged to eat well, help each other and chat together. They are encouraged to clear and clean their tables before leaving the hall at the end of the sittings. House points can be issued throughout the lunchtime by Lunchtime Supervisors for politeness, helpfulness and good behaviour.
Children are expected to;
- Line up quietly
- Sensibly walk to their table
- Stay in their seats until they have finished their lunch
- Talk quietly
- Keep their food in their lunchboxes
- Only touch their own food
- Take all their rubbish home
- Clear their plate, cutlery and cup
- Be kind and polite
Dining Hall Rules
Always be polite. Say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’
Use good table manners when we are eating
Use quiet voices and listen to each other
Leave the dining hall clean and tidy
Top Table
Children who are exceptionally well behaved and have consistently displayed good behaviour during lunchtimes are invited to join our top table on a Wednesday, when they have lunch with the Principle.
Positive Play
We promote ‘Positive Play’ in the playground and encourage our year 6 Prefects to play with the younger children, teaching them traditional games as well as circus skills, parachute games, football, basketball, skittles and much more.
We also offer a quiet space in our Community Room where all children are welcome to sit quietly and enjoy reading or colouring.
Playground Rules
- All children and adults are valued and respected
- Always look after our outside play equipment
- We have kind words, kind hands and kind feet
- We always share with our friends
School Meals
At Uphill Village Academy, our school meals are provided by Aspens and they offer a varied, healthy hot meal option to our children every day. A copy of the menu can be found at the bottom of this page.
Universal Infant Free School Meals
Universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) provides funding for all government funded schools to offer free school meals to pupils in reception, year 1, and year 2. Put simply, parents will not be charged for their child having a hot school meal at school each day.
KS2 meals (Years 3-6)
Children within KS2 (Years 3-6) will need to pay for their school meals via our online payment website called ParentPay. We do not take cash or cheques for school meals in the office. All payments must be made through ParentPay. Meals must be paid for in advance, please ensure your ParentPay account has credit in it.
Benefit Related Free School Meals
Your child may be eligible for free school meals if you are in receipt of any of the following:
- Universal Credit, provided annual net earned income does not exceed £7,400 (£616.67 per month)
- Income support
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Income-based Employment & Support Allowance
- Support under Part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- The guaranteed element of Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit (provided you are not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and annual gross income is £16,190 or less)
- Working Tax Credit run-on (paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying)
If you think your child may be eligible for free school meals because of your income or circumstances, it is essential you apply for this before your child starts school or as soon as your circumstances change. This is important, even for children who are already eligible for Universal Infant Free School Meals, as it also provides additional financial support from the school to help cover the costs of school trips, milk, school jumpers/cardigans and KS2 music lessons. In addition, the number of children eligible for free school meals impacts the level of funding received by the school.
The school receives extra funding (Pupil Premium Grant) based on the number of children who are:
- eligible for free school meals currently or during the past 6 years
- from service families
- in care of the Local Authority or adopted from care
This money is used in a variety of ways to help support these individual pupils and the whole school community.
It is really important that if you think your child is ever eligible for free school meals, however briefly, you should claim.
Our Learning Mentor, Mrs de Scossa, has further details on the benefits available for eligible pupils.
Free School Meals Application Process
North Somerset Council provides an online application service for free school meals. Parents are able to apply online, at home or in school, and get an instant result. The system generates a letter that parents can print off and give to the school and eligibility will start from the date of the letter.
