School meals
View lunch menus for all our early years centres, primary and secondary schools.
School Meals Update
South Ayrshire Council recently passed a budget for the next financial year. Due to the spiralling costs of inflation and food prices, school meal provision has not been immune to the increase. The Council took the hard decision on 1 March to increase the price of a school meal by 20p in all our primary and secondary schools. The new school meal costs from 1 April 2023 are as follows;
Primary | £2.35 |
Secondary (Academies) | £2.45 |
The cost will include a two course lunch and a drink of either water or milk in primary schools, and a two course lunch in secondary schools. Our secondary schools also provide a range of individually priced grab and go items for pupils.
We appreciate that times are difficult, support is available through Free School Meals, uniform and clothing grants and hardship funding which can be accessed through our Revenue and Benefits teams at your local customer service centre, or by contacting them online, by clicking the following link Free school meals and clothing grant - South Ayrshire Council (south-ayrshire.gov.uk).
Facilities Management has also been rolling out a new cashless catering system, which will allow us to streamline production, ensure children and young people are getting the meals that they like/have pre-ordered and deliver a high quality service to all - more information on this below.
ParentPay
South Ayrshire Council are delighted to announce new functionality surrounding the pre-order of school meals in Primary schools. Please see attached information flyer. The links below will take you to instructional videos and a step-by-step guide as to how to book both school meals and school events.
Video - How to book a meal - parentpay (wistia.com)
Webpage - How to book meals and events - Parent Support (parentpaygroup.com)
This functionality is now live and meals can be pre-booked for service from Monday 16th January 2023 onwards. This will ensure pupils receive their first choice of meal at the school servery. Cut off for the pre-order of school meals is 8am and meals can be booked up to 3 weeks in advance. Whilst you can pre-order three courses, the advertised school meal price of £2.15 is for two courses, there will be a 50p charge for an additional course.
There is also a Parent/Carer FAQ area on the ParentPay website where parents/carers can find guidance on how to use the features of ParentPay to top up their accounts, book meals and change their details etc. See link below:
ParentPay - Parent Support (parentpaygroup.com)
Vericool has also been rolled out in our Academies, which allows our young people to pre-order through the Vericool Swift Order app on their phones or through a web link on any internet enabled device.
The attached Vericool flyer talks through the activation of the mobile app, with the codes having been provided to all young people across our Academies already.
We would appreciate your support and participation in the pre-order of meals which will allow us to reduce food waste, over/under production and ensure a better dining experience for all our children and young people.
View the Vericool - SwiftOrder Account Activation Guide (PDF) [1MB]
View the Benefits of MS for Parents Flyer (PDF) [5MB]
Supply issue update
As you are aware, there are issues affecting food supplies across the country and these are impacting on Catering Services and our ability to provide the published menu for school meals.
Some food items are unavailable at short notice and it is not always an option to substitute products as they may contain different allergens to the original product and this is potentially dangerous.
This is an on-going situation so please be aware that it may be necessary to remove menu items at short notice; this is a difficult situation for all of us but please be assured that we are doing everything we possibly can to provide the full menu and provide a safe food service for all.