School Meals

Canon Popham offers pupils the choice between a school provided meal at the cost of £2.50 per day or parents/carers can provide a packed lunch; all school meal choices are available to all pupils.  This means that you can choose whether your child has a packed lunch or a school meal on any day.  We no longer require termly notice.


All year groups and all pupils are entitled to either a:
• Free school meal – If you receive benefits, your child may be entitled to free school meals (see details below)
• Universal Free School Meal – All pupils from Reception to Year 2 are entitled to UIFSM
• Paid meal

TS Primary National Spring Summer 2022 Canon Popham

If your child has specific dietary needs then school require a copy of their medical letter/proof of dietary requirements to be able to provide a meal. They will need to be ordered using our paper menus and liaising with the school office.

ParentPay is the payment portal for school and LunchHound is the school meal booking system

1. ParentPay – Use this account to pay for school dinners. If your child is entitled to Universal Infant Free school meals please register your account so school can record your child’s lunch and communicate with you

2. LunchHound – Use this account to select your child’s meal choice

Both systems must be used. Lunches must be selected on LunchHound and paid for on ParentPay.

Your school meal order cut off is now 8am on the day. Order at home until 8am on the day, at the school office until 9.30am or at breakfast club with the cook.

If you pay for school meals please see below a useful guide to setting up a regular payment in to your account.

ParentPay – Setting up a Direct Debit to pay for school meals

Please log in to your Parent Pay account and follow the instructions below to set up a regular payment in to your account for school meals.

Prices are £2.50 per meal or £12.50 per week. Payments must be in advance and can be made for longer periods if you wish (e.g. weekly, fortnightly, or termly).

• Log in to your parent pay account
• Click on the money note icon at the top of the page
• Click on the 3 white lines on the left hand side
• Select set up direct debit and follow the instructions to set this up

By setting up a regular payment this will ensure that your account doesn’t fall in to arrears and will avoid any disruption to your child’s eating pattern.

Lunch Hound

  • Log on to your Lunch Hound account at LunchHound  using the same email address you have registered with school

  • To book a lunch for your child click on the option they would like and select ‘BOOK’. Do this for each day.

  • If the system will not let you select a lunch for a particular day this will be for one of the following reasons:

    • There is no meal service that day (e.g. school holiday)

    • You have previously indicated that your child does not want a lunch on that day

    • The school has closed booking for that day, please see school ordering cut off time above

    • Your child is allergic to one of the ingredients in that dish

For Lunch Hound support please visit parentsupport@lunchhound.co.uk or call 08455441673

Free School Meals

If you receive one of the following benefits, your child may be entitled to free school meals.

  • Universal Credit – If you apply on or after 1 April 2018, your annual net earned income must be no more that £7,400, as assessed by earnings from up to 3 of your most recent assessment periods.

  • Income Support

  • Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance

  • Income-related Employment and Support Allowance

  • Child Tax Credit but not Working Tax Credit and your annual income is below £16,190 (as worked out by HM Revenue & Customs)

  • Guarantee element of State Pension Credit

  • support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

  • parents receiving Working Tax Credit for four weeks after their employment finishes are entitled to free school meals during that period. This also applies to parents who start working less than 16 hours per week

Even if your child does not want free school meals, you should still make a request. This is because you may be entitled to other benefits for your child, for example, free school milk for children under seven, or help towards board and lodging charges for school trips and this also entitles the school to claim extra funding, which can be used to benefit the pupil concerned.

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