School Meals/Parent Pay
School Meals
The catering staff at Longdendale take great pride in the food they produce and aim to provide a balanced, healthy menu for all students and staff. Food is cooked on the premises and where possible, ingredients are sourced from local suppliers.
We offer hot food options, sandwiches and a pasta bar daily. Various theme days are also held in the dining hall to mark national days or events - menus for these are displayed in school.
Students may bring packed lunches to school and these can be eaten in the dining hall or canopy area. Fizzy drinks are not permitted and for health and safety reasons we ask that no glass bottles are bought into school.
We encourage all students to bring their own re-fillable water bottle to school each day. Water fountains are installed around the school site for student use.
We use a cashless account system where parents/carers are able to add funds and check balances. Parent Pay is a secure and convenient online system where parents can use their debit or credit card to add funds to their child’s account for drinks and meals at break or lunch. Parent Pay is also used as our school payment system for other activities including school trips and music tuition. Families are provided with account activation details when their child joins the school. If you have any questions about Parent Pay, please contact the school office.
Biometrics Cashless Catering System
We use a biometric fingerprint recognition catering system in school. The biometric system is simple and effective and enables your child to use their finger on the scanner to pay for school meals. Parental consent is gained for the biometric system when a child joins the school. For further details, please see the Data Protection Policy on our Policies page.
Free School Meals Entitlement
Information on eligibility for free school meals is available to view at: www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals
To apply for free school meals, please click here.
All students in receipt of free school meals also receive free toast at break times in the canteen, to ensure they have two opportunities to eat within the school day free of charge.
The biometric system is exactly the same for students on free school meals and accounts can be topped up in the same way if required using Parent Pay.
We offer free sanitary products for all students in the student toilets, and in addition packs of these products can be collected from the school office, or from the pre-loved uniform shop at any parent evening event.
