If you receive one of the listed qualifying benefits, you should make an application for free school meals.

Qualifying benefits for free school meals

• 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 guarantee 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 is a disqualifying benefit regardless of your household income – this means that you would not be entitled to Free School Meals whilst in receipt of Working Tax Credit
• Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for four weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• 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)

Young benefit claimants application for free school meals

Children who receive Income Support or Income Based Job Seekers Allowance in their own right are also entitled to receive free school meals.

To check your eligibility please visit https://pps.lgfl.org.uk/ as a thank you for taking the time to do this you will be offered free antivirus software to use at home, regardless of the outcome.

Cashless catering has been introduced at King Solomon High School allowing Internet payments for school meals.

Please click on the link below to begin payment:
Make your payment here

Please click on the link below for user instructions:
Internet payment – User manual

Cashless Catering:

We use SCOPAY for our online payments, you may already have an account, if so great news, they’ve released a new mobile app.

For parents not yet using SCOPAY, did you know you can; pay for dinner money, trips and events. Using SCOPAY allows you to top up your child’s account anywhere, anytime using a credit or debit card.

All parents have access to SCOPAY, if you have not yet registered to make online payments, please let the office know and an access code will be issued to you.

To find out more, visit www.scopay.com

Kashrut and Packed Lunch guide

Dear Parents/Carers,

We are delighted to offer a kosher, non- meat, packed lunch option for your child. This runs alongside our catered provision and will enable you to think together with your children as to what they would really enjoy at break, lunchtime or on day trips (see section below for details of food on day and residential trips). You can of course ‘mix and match’ and send in packed lunch on some days and a school meal on others. The following guide should provide you with all the information you need to prepare the lunch in accordance with the Jewish dietary laws, Kashrut. These are a fundamental principle of the Jewish faith and at the heart of our Ethos as a Jewish school.

What is Kashrut?

The word kosher or kashrut is a Hebrew word meaning ‘acceptable’ or ‘fit for purpose’. This word can be applied to many aspects of life for example, an acceptable way to dress, or to use money. However it is most widely used to apply to food! The principles of the laws of kashrut are written in the Torah (the Jewish Holy Book) and the practical details and application have been set down by the Rabbis over the centuries.
Kashrut laws are a link between Jews world-wide and between generations; they are all about belief and faith as they are laws not based on a logical explanation. Keeping kashrut is a way of keeping Jewish communities together and connected.
Kashrut laws apply to what we eat, how it is prepared and what types of food can be mixed with others. Kosher laws prohibit eating certain types of animals or fish and do not permit mixing food containing meat with dairy dishes.
Technology empowers specialist food technologists and kashrut experts to go into factories and inspect products. If they are found to be kosher, they are given a kosher stamp (or hechsher) and are publicised as kosher approved! The kashrut department of the London Beit Din have all of these products listed on their website

https://www.theus.org.uk/koshersearch

We hope you will make full use of these to help you in planning what you buy for your packed lunch.

 

So how will this work in practice?

Non-meat packed lunches are eaten in a designated area of the dining room only, easily recognisable by blue and white spotted table cloths. Students will not be able to use any crockery or cutlery from the dining room and should bring their own from home, or use disposables, available from all till points in the dining room. Students will also be able to purchase food on disposable plates, to accompany their packed lunch.
Students will not be allowed to eat their lunches in any other area of the school. Meat and shell fish are not permitted as part of packed lunches; sandwiches and salads should be made at home and not purchased from a shop. Our packed lunch arrangement is based on a relationship of trust and respect between the students, parents and staff.
Senior staff undertake supervisory lunch duties and anyone who does not adhere to these rules will lose the privilege of bringing in their own food.

 

So what can I use in my packed lunches?

Sandwiches, salads and healthy snacks are all easily prepared in accordance with the laws of kashrut. Lunches must not contain any meat, poultry (chicken, turkey) or shellfish. Nuts should not be brought into school.

All fruit and vegetables are permitted. Sandwiches might contain any of these: cheese, egg, tuna, salmon, jam, chocolate spread.

You can buy cheese with a hechsher (kosher stamp); you can find kosher cheese in the kosher sections of Sainsburys, Tesco, Waitrose, and Morrisons or in the kosher shops listed at the end of this guide.

You can buy kosher bread in the kosher shops listed at the end of this guide. You can also buy Hovis, Warburtons or Kingsmill bread, as long as it carries one of these two logos on the packaging:

Tinned fish, such as tuna or salmon, is permitted as long as it is in brine or pure oil.

A whole range of products are available from the kosher shops listed at the end of the guide or from kosher sections in the supermarkets listed above. In addition, there are many regular products on the kosher approved list; these can be bought from all supermarkets (for example Heinz salad cream and Hellman’s mayonnaise). As already mentioned, you can look up all of these products on the United Synagogue kosher search

https://www.theus.org.uk/koshersearch

If you have any questions please contact Miss Shutz on

Examples of packed lunch

Egg mayonnaise sandwich, fruit

Pasta salad with tuna and sweetcorn

Vegetable sticks and hummus pot

Ryvita with cheese and mixed salad

Beigel with smoked salmon

 

Kosher shops in the Redbridge Area

La Boucherie, 145 High Rd, Barkingside

 

Supermarkets with a kosher section

Sainsburys, Tesco, Waitrose, Morrisons, Asda

 

Food On School Trips

Day Trips

Students taking part in whole or half day trips may also bring packed lunches, using the guidelines above.

Residentials

These trips are catered and fully kosher. Students can bring extra snacks only as advised by trip staff; these should also follow guidelines above and can be found on the kosher product search website:

https://www.theus.org.uk/koshersearch