Lunches
Hot school dinners are cooked and served daily at Underhill School. If children do not want to take a school dinner they can bring a packed lunch. All state-funded primary school children in London receive free school meals for the 2025/26 academic year, funded by the Mayor of London.
Children may switch between school dinners and packed lunches, as the teacher will take a lunch register each morning to confirm their choice for that day. Guidance for packed lunches can be found in the letter below. Please note that packed lunches must not contain nuts.
Our menu runs in a 3 week cycle. In addition to the standard menu, we offer a vegetarian and halal option each day. There is also a salad bar available to all children. If your child has a food allergy, which is supported by a doctors letter, please advise us so we can accommodate their requirements.
Hygiene Rating
We work with ISS to produce cooked school meals on site. Our latest Food Hygiene rating level 5.
Packed Lunch Guidance
Packed Lunch Guidance
At Underhill School and Children’s Centre, we encourage all children to bring a healthy, balanced packed lunch that supports concentration, learning, and wellbeing throughout the school day.
We are a nut-free school to help protect children with severe allergies. Please do not include any nuts or nut-containing products in packed lunches.
A Healthy Packed Lunch Should Include:
A Main Item
- Sandwiches, wraps, bagels or rolls
- Pasta, rice or noodle salads
- Cheese, tuna, chicken or egg fillings
- Savoury muffins or homemade lunch items
- Where possible, choose wholemeal or wholegrain options.
Fruit and Vegetables
- Apple, banana, grapes or berries
- Carrot sticks, cucumber or cherry tomatoes
- Raisins or other dried fruit in small amounts
Please note cherry tomatoes and grapes should be cut lengthways to avoid the risk of choking.
Dairy or Dairy Alternatives
- Cheese cubes or strings
- Yoghurt
- Fromage frais
A Healthy Drink
- Water
- Milk
- Please avoid fizzy drinks and energy drinks.
Foods We Ask You to Avoid
As a nut-free school, the following items must not be brought into school:
- Peanuts
- Tree nuts
- Peanut butter
- Chocolate spreads containing nuts
- Nut cereal bars or snacks
Please also avoid:
- Sweets and large chocolate bars
- Fizzy drinks
- Energy drinks
- Glass bottles
Ideas for Filling and Healthy Lunches
- Wholemeal ham and cheese wrap with cucumber sticks and fruit
- Pasta salad with chicken and sweetcorn
- Cheese sandwich, yoghurt and chopped vegetables
- Rice pot with tuna and peas
- Homemade pizza muffin with fruit
A Few Helpful Tips
- Use an insulated lunch bag with an ice pack to keep food fresh.
- Label lunch boxes and drinks bottles clearly with your child’s name.
- Encourage children to help prepare their lunch to build healthy eating habits.
Thank you for supporting our healthy eating approach and helping us keep all children safe.
Pupil Premium and Free School Meals
A new `Free School Meals/Pupil Premium Service' www.fsm.lgfl.net is a web site where parents can quickly and easily check eligibility for free school meals and, if eligible, also gain welcome additional funding for their child's school, known as `Pupil Premium'. If eligible, you are not obliged to accept the free school meals for your child if you wish to make other arrangements, but we do want to encourage applications as the additional funding gained would still benefit education provision at the school.
What the service does for parents
After entering essential details into the web site, the online application process links to the Department for Education system for checking eligibility and gives an immediate `yes' or `no' response, and will notify the school.
The system is being provided to encourage parents to apply and take advantage of free school meals while at the same time increasing the benefit to schools from Pupil Premium funding, a substantial amount of which does not reach schools because not all parents who are eligible apply for free meals for their child.
By way of a `thank you' to parents for taking part, and regardless of individual outcomes, The London Grid for Learning (lGfL) would like to provide parents of children attending LGfL-connected schools with Sophos Anti-Virus software, free of charge, to protect the computers used by pupils at home.
To gain access to this software there is a short registration process which will also give you access, if required, to other LGfL services and benefits that are available to your child's school. Please be assured there is no catch, no cost and no advertising. LGfL (a K education charity set up in 2001 and owned by London's 33 local authorities) exists to support education and is leading this initiative to make it easier for parents to apply for free school meals and to encourage the drawdown of unclaimed Pupil Premium.
What the service does for schools
As the government has now introduced free school meals for all children in Key Stage 1, it is more important than ever for schools to know the number of pupils for whom they can claim Pupil Premium funding. These funds enable schools to take on additional staff and invest in additional equipment, resources and activities to the benefit of all children.Please visit www.fsm.lgfl.net and enter the necessary details and support this worthwhile initiative.