Our school lunches are provided by our in-house catering team.
Our catering team is supervised by our cook, Mrs. Watkins, who has been with William Ford for over 13 years. The team work tirelessly to provide a varied and nutritious lunch menu, ensuring dietary needs and requirements are met for all students. We offer a 2-course lunch, complimented by a self-serve, fresh salad bar and freshly baked breads accompanied by water or milk.
School meals normally cost £2.20 per day, which you are required to pay in advance and be in credit on your account. In order to keep payments efficient, we use the cashless system Parent Pay, where you are able to use both online and local pay points payments. A Parent Pay account is set up by our office team for your child as soon as they are on roll. Should you have any issues with your account or require a pupil barcoded letter, please visit our school office, where assistance will be offered.
In May 2023, Mayor Sadiq Khan announced that all pupils up to Year 6 (end of primary school) will receive universal free school meals for the academic year 2023-2024.
*This has now been extended to 2024-25!!*
You will still be issued a ParentPay account for after-school clubs and trips and activities.
The menu runs in 2-weekly cycles, providing daily Red (meat) and Green (Vegetarian) options and is inclusive of favourites suggested by the pupils through our Pupil Voice Surveys. It is important to us that we offer new experiences of food to our pupils, which we do through our themed days throughout the year.
Please note that we are a nut free, healthy eating school and DO NOT SERVE HALAL MEAT. We recommend you speak to the catering staff or school office if your child suffers with allergies or has dietary restrictions.
Packed Lunches
Should you wish your child to bring a packed lunch to school, please ensure it is suitably packed in a plastic container. No glass containers or glass filled thermos flasks are permitted for reasons of safety.
Please note, as part of our Healthy Eating bid, pupils should not bring chocolate snacks or sugary, fizzy drinks as part of their packed lunch.
Trips
If your child is attending an all-day school trip, you are required to provide them with a packed lunch. Should you receive Free School Meals for your child, please contact our school office no later than 48 hours beforehand to book your child's FREE packed lunch.
Free School Meals
.Your child may be entitled to free meals at school. Applications can be made online via the LBBD website. If you require any support, please contact our Parent Liaison Officer, Mrs Kerry Noakes, on 0208 270 6582 or email office@williamfordschool.co.uk, who will be very happy to assist you.
Due to the fluctuations in finances over the last year, we would encourage all parents to complete this form as you may not be aware of your entitlement.
If you have no recourse to public funds, you can now make an application for free school meals. Please contact the school office to request the application form. For further information, please visit www.nrpfnetwork.org.uk.
THE GOLDEN TABLE
At William Ford, the pupils pride themselves on calm, respectable behaviour across the school and whilst we appreciate that lunchtime is when our pupils can release their energy and reset ready for the afternoon, the behaviour expectations remain. Whilst pupils can earn house points for positive behaviour throughout the day, our catering team suggested an exciting initiative where our children can be nominated for a Golden Ticket for being helpful or having a positive attitude. They put them into the jar for their Year group and 12 names (3 from each year group) are invited to dine on the Golden Table every Monday.
The children receive an official invitation and are able to select from the day's hot lunch or the special golden table lunch.