Lunch Session

To our parents/carers,

This letter should hopefully serve as a guide to new parents, or a reminder to existing parents, with regards to our lunch sessions.

During a lunch period there are generally around 3 or 4 members of staff, depending on ratio, who eat their lunch with the children. The children are seated in a horse-shoe formation, or at tables of around six children. The staff circulate the children at the beginning of the lunch session offering help in undoing items and reminding them to open their drinks, start with sandwiches etc. It is always a good idea to send packaging which your child can practise undoing themselves, after all, we are trying to encourage independence for all our children.

Due to a number of factors, we have some regulations around what the child is allowed to bring in their lunch box which we have listed below:

1. Due to allergies, we ask that you do not use peanut butter or similar items in sandwiches2. No Frubes, or similar items. Also if you send your child in with a yoghurt, please remember a

spoon.3. No mini-baby-bel cheeses – this is a hall requirement due to the wax packaging. However, if you

want to unpackage it yourself in the morning to send in then that is absolutely fine.4. No sweets or chocolate. By chocolate we mean confectionary, like a Dairy Milk bar or

something similar. A biscuit bar which has chocolate in it is allowed. 5. Ensure fruit/vegetables are ready for your child to eat, for example, grapes cut and oranges

peeled.6. Lastly, please remember to only pack what your think your child will eat! We ensure earlier in

the day that they have snack and the lunch session is only two hours.

One of the most important reasons for these regulations is because we are trying to prepare them for school and the lunch sessions are good practice for what they can expect. Obviously staff are always on hand to help, but we are trying to encourage independence and healthy eating – two things which our local primary schools focus on! We are regularly congratulated by St. John’s and Thurnham, in particular, for how well prepared the children from WPS are when it comes to lunch sessions. Secondly, whereas dinner ladies merely supervise lunch sessions, our staff have to supervise, clean, and prepare for the next day while trying to eat their own lunches so anything that helps us save some time or make less mess is a bonus.

If there are any questions about lunch sessions, please feel free to discuss them with me at any time.

Lisa CopeManager of WPS

Weavering Hall ME145JP 01622 631274 07875319705