School Food

Saint Aidan’s has two well-equipped and pleasant refectories and kitchens which provide hot and cold food appealing to a variety of tastes. In addition to their lunchtime service, both refectories also offer a morning break service and students can also purchase breakfast before school in the main refectory. Both refectories comply with all the latest legislation on healthy eating and have a Food Hygiene Rating of 5.

During lunch, the main refectory (catering for Years 7 to 10) offers a different main course option each day and these will often be based around pasta, rice or noodles. On certain days this refectory serves a roast lunch together with a pudding or a drink of choice. Our newer “Hill View” refectory offers “Pasta King” options for Year 11 students. In addition to these main course options a great variety of soups and snacks are also available including paninis, sandwiches, baked potatoes with various fillings and hot filled baguettes in both refectories.

Many students are entitled to a free school meal. Parents are encouraged to apply for this benefit if they think they are eligible and students are especially encouraged to take their free meal if they are entitled.

Students bringing packed lunches to school consume their meal in the refectories alongside those purchasing a meal. Parents are encouraged to provide healthy packed lunches.

We have a cashless catering system installed in both refectories. This means that all students have their own personalised Refectory Account. This Account is accessed using the student’s ‘thumb print’ at the till and is used to pay for meals at lunch time and snacks before school or at morning break. In the vast majority of cases the Refectory Account is ‘charged’ from home using Parent Pay. This is an online and highly secure payment service for which there is no charge to the parent. You can credit your child’s Refectory Account using either a debit card or a credit card. The website is www.parentpay.com and usernames and passwords are available from school and will be issued automatically to all new students. If the use of Parent Pay proves difficult for whatever reason, or if you need assistance in setting up your account, please don’t hesitate to contact school.

Most importantly our catering team try very hard to source food locally and to always provide healthy and vegetarian alternatives. We believe in the value of an attractive, nutritionally sound meal; the food we eat aids the learning process and all students are encouraged to choose their food wisely.

Recently we have also made a real effort to drastically reduce the amount of single use plastic sold within the refectories. For instance sandwich packaging is 100% biodegradable and we do not sell water in plastic bottles. The refectories are equipped with free cooled water dispensers and all students are encouraged to bring in water bottles from home and use these machines responsibly so ensuring that they are hydrated throughout the day and that their learning is not inhibited.