School Meals
School Lunch menu
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.
Dolce - Menu
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.
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 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 £2.90. If you are having any difficulties making payments, please do not hesitate to contact the school office to discuss the matter.
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.