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Menu

Our food service team understand that fresh, attractive and tasty food is fundamental to young people's health and academic achievement. We are committed to ensuring there is plenty of delicious, popular, innovative dishes that are freshly prepared from fresh ingredients daily.

We look forward to continuing our partnership to support the health and well-being of Bury's students and ensure every mealtime is an enjoyable and social occasion.

We pride ourselves in sourcing ingredients of the highest quality, buying British, and local food wherever possible, to support not only Burys children but our local community, businesses, and economy.

Our purpose is to provide students with high quality, healthy and affordable food choices, helping them to perform well in school.

Bury High schools have two seasonal menus a year on a three-week menu cycle. The menus changes currently after Easter and October half-term and includes both a Lunch menu and a Morning Break menu.

Lunchtime service

Secondary schools offer a wide range of food options at lunchtime which can be purchased as individual items or a complete meal deal, including:

  • A minimum of two choices of main course with vegetables or salad plus potatoes or alternative carbohydrate.

  • Filled jacket potatoes

  • Hot sandwiches and pizzas - panini's, flat breads and bread rolls with various fillings

  • Salad bowls

  • Fresh soups

  • Pasta pots with selection of sauces

  • Hot and cold desserts plus fruity pots, yogurts, fresh fruit

  • Selection of fruit juices, milk, milk shakes, smoothies, water and flavoured water

The school menus run on a three-week cycle which is changed twice a year to avoid repetition and introduce new dishes.

Mid-morning break service

Many schools operate break time services offering a range of:

  • Toast, cheese on toast, toasted teacakes

  • Hot and cold sandwiches

  • Fruit and yogurt

  • Water, juices, tea, coffee and hot chocolate

Costs

A standard high school lunchtime meal deal costs £2.50 per day. A meal deal consists of a main dish, a drink and a home-made cake or cookie.

Ordering

High schools operate a cafeteria style system, and the costs vary with the items your child chooses from the price list or tariff. If there is any pre-ordering, this will be arranged on a school-by-school basis.

All Bury high schools use a biometric cashless system to pay for school meals. The system uses fingerprint scanners to identify pupils. You can add money onto your child's account on-line which is debited at the till. The system also records what items have been purchased. There are no cards to lose or cash, making the system very quick and efficient and this minimises queueing at lunchtime.

The fingerprint images cannot be used for other identification purposes. The system uses an image of the fingerprint to create a mathematical algorithm and then discards the fingerprint, only the numbers remain and these cannot be reinterpreted back into a fingerprint image.

Even though the fingerprint cannot be reproduced or checked against any other data store parents are required to give their consent for their child to pay for meals by this method. The school will request consent when your child starts at secondary school. For those parents not wishing to use the biometric part of the system we can issue swipe cards.

Ingredient quality

The quality of our meals and beverages is one of the most important aspects of our foodservice strategy. Our raw materials are always grade "A". We propose:

  • Freshly prepared dishes from fresh unprocessed ingredients

  • No fish from the Marine Stewardship Council 'fish to avoid' list is served

  • Our vegetables, fruit, salad, and potatoes are predominantly fresh, whole and seasonal

  • High levels of local procurement of meat, dairy, fruit, vegetables, and salads

  • Red Tractor (UK farm assured) chicken, pork, and beef

  • Free range eggs

  • Our tuna is dolphin friendly

  • Our suppliers are vetted, fully traceable and many are local to minimise food miles including fruit, vegetables, and salads from Livesey's, bread from Morris Bakers, cheese from Dewlays, fish and meat from Youngs in Grimsby, YPO and Brakes

  • We comply with the DEFRA Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services

  • Our meat is of a high standard, for example, our minced beef is steak mince with only 5% fat

  • We will comply with Natasha's Law

  • We provide Special Diets when requested in advance and in line with Allergen legislation

  • Our food does not contain nuts, added salt or saturated fat, artificial additives, or colourings, or mechanically recovered meat

Healthy and balanced

We comply with the mandatory School Food Standards from the Department for Education regarding nutrition in children's diets.

Catering for special diets and allergies

Please let your child's school know if they have any special dietary requirements. Pupils with specific food-related conditions such as coeliac, milk/egg/dairy free and lactose intolerance can be catered for if we are provided with a diet sheet from the pupil's dietitian, hospital or GP. If we can, we will accommodate specific dietary needs from our standard menu and ingredient range. We do not serve foods containing peanuts or tree nuts.

All Special Diets are provided in line with Allergen legislation. We have a formal allergen process which is available on request.

Certificated Halal meat is available in most schools where there is a requirement. Copies of certificates are available on request.

Staff

All our Kitchen Managers are craft trained chefs and have the opportunity to conduct further development through Apprenticeships.

  • We steam, bake, roast using Combination ovens in the main. We do not fry except on Fridays

  • We do not add salt or saturated fat when cooking

  • Our staff are friendly, focused on giving your child an enjoyable meal experience

  • Our staff are paid a Real Living Wage and have a quality range of benefits including a Greater Manchester Pension which reduces staff turnover and maximises the benefit of training

Cleanliness

Our kitchens achieve 5 stars from Environmental Health and they are monitored regularly by the Catering Management Team.

School Food standards

Over 16,000 children in Bury eat a healthy and nutritious school lunch every school day.

We provide meals in accordance with government's School Food Standards. They are regularly checked to ensure they are of the correct quality standard and portion size.

School Food Standards are intended to help children develop healthy eating habits and ensure that that they get the energy and nutrition they need across the whole school day. They place an emphasis on providing a wide range of foods across the week.

School Food Standards [510kb]