School Meals are great because:

1. Children can sit down together and enjoy their meal, whilst at the same time developing those social skills of eating together that are so important in later life.
    
2. Develop the confidence to make choices at meal times.
    
3. A well-fed and happy child is more likely to be receptive to participating in the afternoon’s activities.
    
4. Join in our theme day promotions.
    
5. A balanced diet in childhood can help prevent numerous health problems both in the short term and in later life, as some adult diseases start early in life.
    
6. Having the benefits of someone else preparing and cooking lunch for your child saves you worrying about a packed meal every day.
    
7. Our staff are well trained and committed to providing healthy and nutritious meals served in a safe supervised environment.
    
8. We offer a balanced diet throughout a 3 week menu cycle.            

School Meals - The Best Option

There are no healthy or unhealthy foods only healthy or unhealthy diets. Doncaster Schools Catering are about to update their existing management information system by installing a new software package that will allow the service to analyse the nutritional content of the menu cycles offered to pupils, and to ensure compliance with the government's revised nutritional standards. 

We believe that school meals represent the best option in terms of contributing to a healthy diet and value for money when compared to other sources of food available to children for their mid-day meal. i.e. packed lunches.

We continue to work closely with the Doncaster and Bassetlaw Health Trust’s Department of Nutrition and Dietetics and Healthy Schools Team. Children learn about food and nutrition from many sources, including their parents/guardians and the school. Schools Catering is part of the school environment, and can and will support classroom teaching relating to nutrition. Throughout the school, messages about food should complement each other (e.g. the principles taught in the classroom should then be reflected in the type of food made available in the dining room). 

An additional vital ingredient to ensure that the message about healthy eating is supported not only by the school and the caterers but by yourselves as parents/carers and request that wherever possible all children are not only given the opportunity to dine but actively encouraged to try and taste all the foods on offer.