Some children attending Bedford Borough schools may be eligible for free school meals. The child must attend a school in Bedford Borough, although may live outside the local authority.
Who is eligible for free school meals?
Free school meals are available to pupils in receipt of, or whose parents are in receipt of, one or more of the following benefits:
A pupil is only eligible to receive a free school meal when a claim for the meal has been made on their behalf and their eligibility, or protected status, has been verified by the school where they are enrolled or by the local authority.
Transactional protection
In addition, the following pupils will be protected against losing their free school meals as follows:
How to apply for free school meals – Please follow this link.
Apply for free school meals | Bedford Borough Council
If you are not contacted by the school or the free school meals administrator within three weeks of the application you can assume your application is unsuccessful.
Extra help and support available
LOFFS is a not-for-profit online food shop that helps individuals and families on a
monthly basis. Please have a look at our website: www.loffs.org.uk For further information please click on this link LOFFS
Food and the classroom…
We all know how important eating healthy food is during the school day and how it impacts both attainment and behaviour of pupils. Research consistently shows that when students eat a balanced meal with at least 2 portions of fruit or veg, protein and carbohydrate they are more engaged and maintained higher levels of concentration throughout the afternoon.
Innovate Catering provide pupils with access to bread and salad every day and there is no added sugar or salt, no confectionary or chocolate and no high sugar drinks served. We also ensure there is ample choice for vegetarians and those with special dietary requirements and offer a fantastic array of mains and desserts while fresh fruit, salad and delicious pasta are always available.
Only the highest quality produce
Everything has to start with fantastic quality and responsible food. We buy seasonal British produce, farm assured meat, Fairtrade coffee and chocolate, and fish from sustainable stocks. Our sourcing strategy always considers quality, location and welfare; meaning that our customers enjoy high-quality fresh food. We have also adopted the European Chicken Commitment across our entire supply chain and will be working with our suppliers to meet all the standards in it by 2026.
Across our wide, diverse and ever-changing menus, we ensure that every single morsel is safe, sustainable and tastes great. We only source from farmers, wholesalers and catering butchers that are audited to UKAS accredited standards and meet the highest possible assurance levels.
BFS is a cashless school. Payments for trips, resources and meals are made via ParentPay. When you join the school you will be issued with a log in and password. Only one ParentPay account is required even if you have more than one child in our school
If you have any queries or need further information or assistance with ParentPay, please contact finance via [email protected] or on 01234 332285
