At St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School we support our parents who wish their children to live a healthy lifestyle. For those parents who wish their children to have a cooked meal at lunchtime, the school can provide a school meal that will provide one third of a pupil’s daily requirement of nutrients. Gateshead Council School Meals Service offers a wide range of healthy options in their nutritionally analysed menus and a team of their catering professionals headed by Mrs McFadyen, our Catering Manager, produce these tasteful meals in school.

The cost of the meals is currently £3.00 each (£15.00 per week). Meals are payable on Mondays. Payments may be made by cash or by cheques payable to BWCET or preferably by using our on-line payment system.

Food Allergies

Gateshead Meals Service strive to ensure the pupils can enjoy the nutritious and delicious school lunch on offer, regardless of any allergies, intolerances or medical diet requirements.

They recognise special diets as an extremely important aspect of our catering provision, aiming for all pupils to enjoy their lunchtime experience, without the worry of being singled out.

Catering staff are appropriately qualified and have first-hand experience in supporting and creating bespoke menus for pupils with allergies or special diets.  They work in collaboration with parents and carers, the pupil and the school, ensuring an open flow of communication throughout the whole process.

• If your child has an allergy, intolerance or medical diet, the school must be informed. The school will provide forms for completion.
• Once completed, return the form to the school alongside supporting correspondence from a doctor or dietician and a recent photo of your child. Without the correspondence, the process cannot be completed for the safety of the child and our staff.
• The special diet form, doctor’s correspondence and photograph will be given to the Catering Management who may be in contact to arrange a meeting when the current menu will be discussed, offering alternatives where necessary. Main dishes will be tweaked where possible so your child can enjoy similar dishes to their friends. The finalised menu will consist of one hot meal or a suitable jacket potato or sandwich option.

Please open the forms below if your child has a food allergy.