School Meals
School Lunch menu
School Lunch Menu - April to October 2025
The school kitchen offers an excellent choice of freshly prepared, nutritious, varied hot and cold meals every day. Children are supervised throughout the lunch break by our Teaching Assistant team with help available to anyone needing it.
Change of school meals provider from 3rd November 2025.
When we return after half term there will be a change in our school lunch provider and we will be moving to Dolce Ltd. This change was considered carefully to ensure that the school and its community are getting the best quality meals and ingredients for the best value possible. Dolce is a family-run school meal provider that is well-established and used by other schools in Abingdon and the surrounding areas and provide delicious, freshly made meals prepared with care and attention. You can check out their website for more information www.dolce.co.uk and there is a menu and parent information leaflet with a list of FAQs attached to this email.
There will also be a change in the way you manage lunch orders for paid and free school meals. This will be done directly through Dolce using a system called School Grid and while we appreciate this means a new process and additional admin for you initially, there are benefits to the new system that we cannot provide through the existing system e.g:
- You can control child’s dietary & allergen requirements and the allergen blocking system prevents you and your child from ordering any unsafe meal options.
- Full ingredients list, recipe cards and a nutritional breakdown for each dish.
- A dedicated customer care telephone number and email for parents and carers.
- Ability to give feedback on meals
- Meals can be ordered up to 8.55am on the day.
- Online and telephone card payments
For School Grid to create and send login details for your account we will need to provide them with your name and email address (please note only the parent/carer recorded as the first contact will receive log-on details). For details on how your information will be used and stored please click the link for the School Grid privacy policy https://app.schoolgrid.co.uk/termsofuse/Privacy-Policy.pdf
Please let us know via email office.3247@st-nicolas.oxon.sch.uk by Friday 10th October if you do not wish us to provide these details or if you have any queries.
Account log-in details will be emailed directly to you from School Grid so you will be able to place orders ready for after half term and we will confirm when these have been sent out. The cost of a paid school meal remains £2.90, if you have a credit balance left on Arbor for school dinners we are unable to transfer this to School Grid, but this can be refunded back to you.
We are sure that this will be a change for the positive and appreciate your support and patience while we all get used to the new system.
Kind regards
Andy Spooner
Dolce - Parent Leaflet
Dolce - Menu
We also make provision for children to bring a packed lunch to school. The older children eat these together in their classrooms whilst the younger children eat in the school hall for an inclusive and more sociable meal time with help available for opening of packages etc.
If your child has a dietary requirement please let the school office know by completing the Medical Diet Request form below, this information will then be passed on to the school kitchen - thank you.
Meal Booking and Payment System - Up to 24th October 2025
Meals can be booked on the Arbor App. You can now book up to 8am on the day of the dinner and in advance to the last date on the current menu. If it is passed the deadline and you need to book please call the school office and we can do this for you.
If you don't book a meal and your child(ren) hasn't got a packed lunch the kitchen may be able to offer a brunch bag, but if this is not possible on the day we will give you a call to bring in a packed lunch.
A help guides for booking meals can be found here Meal Menu choices on the Parent Portal or Parent App – Arbor Help Centre (arbor-education.com)
If you are unable to book online or need any help using the Arbor parent app, please speak to Mrs Drew in the School office.
Reception, Year 1, Year 2, UIFSM and Free School Meals
For children in Years R, 1 and 2, meals continue to be funded by the Universal Infant Free School Meals programme. However, you will still need to log in to order meals for the days they are required. This also applies to children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 who are in receipt of Free School Meals.
Year 3 – Year 6
For children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 who are not in receipt of Free School Meals, the cost of a meal is £2.60. Outstanding balances for the previous weeks meals should be paid by Monday of the following week. If outstanding balances are not paid, you will receive a polite reminder via email. If the account remains unpaid after the agreed time you will be notified that no further orders can made until the balance is cleared.
If you are having any difficulties making the payment, please do not hesitate to contact the school office to discuss the matter.
Medical Diet Request Form
Eligibility criteria for free school meals:
Section 512 of the Education Act 1996, as amended 1st April 2018, places a duty on maintained schools, academies and free schools to provide free school meals to pupils of all ages that meet the criteria.
Who is eligible for free school meals?
Free school meals are available to pupils in receipt of, or whose parents are in receipt of, one or more of the following benefits:
- Universal Credit (provided you have an annual net earned income of no more than £7,400, as assessed by earnings from up to three of your most recent assessment periods)
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- The guaranteed element of Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
- Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for four weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
If you think you may be eligible for free school meals, please complete the form below and return to the school office, or if you would like a paper copy of the form, please do not hesitate to request one from the school office.