The canteen uses a two week menu which can be viewed here:
A sample Price List can be viewed here. Students who live locally may go home for lunch but must have a lunch pass to allow them off-site: the letter to apply for this can be downloaded here: Lunch Pass Application 2011-2012
Cashless Catering System
Students do not use cash in the canteen. Payment is made in advance, into the student’s account, by cheque or cash. To buy items in the canteen, the student simply places their finger on the scanner and the system uses a finger pattern recognition method to identify the student. It displays the student’s name and their account balance, deducts for the items they are buying and then shows them their new balance.
Paying money into the student’s catering account
Payment can be made
- By cheque (payable to Perins School), to cover as long or as short a period as you wish. There is a secure post box for cheque payments in the School Office. Cheques MUST have the student’s name and tutor group on the back – if the payment is to be shared between more than one student, please identify them both clearly on the back.
- By cash payment in advance (notes only). This must be in a sealed envelope, with the student’s name and tutor group on the outside, and put in the post box in the School Office.
- By cash deposits into a cash Revaluation Station located in the Main Hall. This will accept coins of the values £2 – £1 – 50p – 20p – 10p coins (1p – 2p – 5p coins cannot be used). This is the quickest way to put money into the system but is best suited to small amounts (e.g. to top up the account immediately before buying something).
Free school meals
We strongly encourage any families who are entitled to Free School Meals to register for them. All students’ accounts appear exactly the same and there is nothing to show that they are getting a free school meal. Students entitled to a free meal have their balance updated every day with the amount allocated for a free school meal. This money can only be used at lunch and any underspend or missed meals cannot be carried forward to the next day. Students can also add extra money to their balance if they wish, in exactly the same ways as everyone else, to buy items at breaktime or extra items at lunchtime.
Keeping track of the account
Students are shown their new balance each time they make a purchase. They can also check their balance at the revaluation station. There is a daily spend limit of £ 5.00 to help students budget. This can be changed for individuals and parents should write to the Caterers if they wish to do this. Remember it needs to cover both meal time and break time
If parents want to know more about how their child’s catering account, they should contact HC3S catering. Reports include:
- Every item of food served and the total cost of each serving.
- Payments made in advance via the School Office, whether by cheque or cash.
- Payments made into the revaluation station.
- An overview showing the date, time, location and cost of each purchase; the value of all manual payments; the value of all deposits made into the revaluation station and the current cash balance.
These reports can cover any length of time and parents should specify if they wish to cover a certain period of time (e.g. since a certain date).
What if the student does not have enough money in the system to pay for a school dinner?
No student is refused a school dinner at Perins because they have forgotten their dinner money. They are allowed to borrow money for one day, but need to repay this the next school day and ensure they put more money onto their account.
Data Handling
Certain data will be held on the system to enable accurate operation. This will include your child’s name, class, photo, account balance and meal entitlement. This data will be handled under the guidelines of the Data Protection Act and only used by parties directly involved with the implementation of the system. If you have any concerns about this please contact the Catering Company HC3S or leave a message with the School Office.
