School Meals

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Adapted Diets

Our catering service is proud to provide nutritious good value meals using carefully sourced quality ingredients.

We currently serve over 2,000 lunches per day to our nursery, primary and secondary children. Menus are updated every 12 months in August and our cooks consult with pupils and staff to improve the food choices and recipes. We offer seasonal meals where over 85 percent of the menu is freshly prepared with ingredients that are GM free, with no undesirable E-numbers or hydrogenated fats. The menus offer a choice of freshly cooked, nutritionally balanced meals and include favourites such as fish and chips, sausage rolls, chicken goujons, homemade pizza and healthy home baking.

School meals for children in Early Years and Primary 1 to 5 are free. School meals for Primary 6 and 7 are £2.50 and Secondary meals are £3.00.

We try to use as much local produce as possible, which supports the local economy, reduces carbon emissions by reducing food miles and can help to safeguard food supplies.

At present we use:

Local fish wholesalers for all of our fish
Shetland Farm Dairies for all our milk supplies
Almost all of our bread and rolls are either homemade or supplied by local bakeries
Locally produced eggs in some of our schools
As much locally grown vegetables as we can where possible including fruit and vegetables grown in some of the schools
Shetland lamb on our menu when available

Why choose school meals?

Our lunches provide a third of the nutrients a child requires for growth and development
Having lunch in a safe, supervised dining room environment helps develop the social skills of eating
Our menus encourage healthy eating from an early age
It has been shown that eating a balanced meal at lunchtime aids concentration during afternoon lessons
Our lunches fulfil the Scottish Government’s nutritional requirements for food and drink in schools (Scotland) regulations 2008
Every day our dedicated and qualified staff, many of whom are parents, prepare and cook lunch saving you time preparing a packed lunch
We can accommodate vegetarian, medically prescribed diets and special dietary needs where possible
Always a good variety and choice
Water available with every meal
Fresh fruit is available daily
At least one vegetarian option is always available
Represents excellent value for money

Nutritional standards for food and drink in schools

From 8 April 2021, changes were implemented by the Scottish Government to the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations. Within these regulations, we have limitations on the amount of sugar, saturated fats, red and red-processed meats amongst others, that can be served not only at lunch times, but across the whole school day.

Our menus are designed annually with input from parents, kitchen staff as well as looking at what works well in other Local Authorities. The menus offer a wide variety of dishes to fit within the regulations, this ensures that are providing the children with one third of their daily nutritional needs.

Nutritional Standards - Primary & Secondary