School Lunches
At Lyde Green Community School, we believe that healthy, nutritious meals are an important part of the school day. Our catering service provides a range of freshly prepared meals each day, helping students stay energised, focused and ready to learn. The cost of a school lunch is £2.90.
We are committed to offering balanced meal options that cater for a variety of tastes and dietary needs.
Vegetarian options are available daily, and we will work closely with families to support students with allergies, intolerances or specific dietary requirements.
It is essential that all dietary requirements are recorded on Arbor before your child joins the school. This includes food allergies, intolerances, medical dietary requirements, halal diets, vegetarian diets, vegan diets and any other special dietary requirements.
Catering Provider
We are delighted to be working with OCS, one of the UK's leading education catering providers. OCS specialises in delivering high-quality school meals and is committed to using fresh, seasonal ingredients that are responsibly sourced wherever possible.
You can find out more about OCS on their website: OCS
Cashless Catering
Our dining hall operates a cashless catering system using biometric recognition technology. This allows students to move quickly through the service area and ensures a secure and efficient experience at lunchtime.
Parents and carers can add money to their child's lunch account through Arbor. Students entitled to Free School Meals will have their allowance automatically credited to their account each day.
Use of the biometric system is entirely optional. Parents and carers can provide or withdraw consent through Arbor at any time. Students who do not use biometrics will be provided with an alternative method of identification.
When a student is registered, the system converts features of their fingerprint into a unique mathematical code. No fingerprint images are stored, and the original fingerprint cannot be recreated from the information held by the system.
Further information can be found in our Biometrics FAQs below.
Free School Meals
Free School Meals provide eligible students with a free school lunch every day.
From September 2026, eligibility has been expanded and some families who have not previously qualified may now be eligible.
If you think your child may be eligible, we encourage you to apply even if you have been unsuccessful in the past.
https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals
Paying for School Meals
All school meal payments are managed through Arbor.
Using the Arbor Parent Portal or App, parents and carers can:
- View their child's meal balance.
- Add money to their child's lunch account.
- Review previous payments and account activity.
For step-by-step guidance on managing meal payments through Arbor, please refer to the Arbor Help Centre guidance below.
Menus
OCS takes great pride in the quality of its food. Meals are freshly prepared each day using quality ingredients, with menus designed to provide healthy, balanced and appealing choices for young people.
Our current lunch menu can be viewed below.
