School Meals

The Gate Café

The modern, vibrant atmosphere offered in the Gate Café gives students a chance to relax in one of the many seating areas – inside at tables in the main canteen or on the mezzanine level, or at tables in the Gate Theatre floor space. In good weather, students can choose to take cold food outside to the courtyard, at picnic tables around the campus or relaxing with friends on the field.

The Gate Café serves breakfast from 8.00am, with a selection of breakfast products including pastries, fruit, bacon rolls and hot or cold drinks, we also offer porridge to our students free of charge daily until 8:15am. At break, students can choose from a variety of hot and cold snacks. Themed days add interest – traditional British dishes as well as Indian, Italian, Caribbean and Asian cuisines have all featured on the changing menus.

All food is made with fresh, ethically sourced and, where possible, local ingredients.

If you have any allergies, before ordering please come and speak to a member of the catering team who are all trained in both allergies and Natasha’s Law. We can advise you on options suitable for your needs.

The academy operates a cashless catering system for purchasing items from the Gate Café. The minimum amount that can be paid into your account is £5.00, money spent on food will be taken out of the system and you can always check by using the online payment system or at the point of sale to see how much you have left. Students can also bring in cash to school which can be loaded onto our cash loaders to top up their account.

The online system is able to provide you with a report detailing each item of food served, each credit made to the system, for any time period and show a current balance.

There is a daily ‘spend limit’ programmed into the system of £5.00, this can be increased or decreased for an individual student by making a written request to the school kitchen.

Please note no cash for cashless catering will be accepted at the tills.  If you have forgotten how to log on to the cashless catering system please call the academy on 01243 546800.

Prepayment for students wishing to purchase food from our canteen can be made through our online payment system, ParentPay.

Please come to reception at break or lunch time and explain to the receptionist, they will direct you to IT Support, who will be able to resolve this for you.

If you believe your child may be eligible to receive free school meals but are not currently registered, we would urge you to register without delay.

Check your eligibility and apply directly on the West Sussex County Council website.

No one will know you have registered and it will not affect any other benefits you are claiming. In addition, due to the School’s cashless catering system, it is impossible to distinguish between those in receipt of Free School Meals and those who are not.

All drinks sold within the gate theatre are school approved. This includes milk, water, and fruit based drinks.

Packed Lunch Policy

Overall aim

To ensure all packed lunches brought from home and consumed in the academy (or on trips) provide the student with healthy and nutritious food that is similar to food served in schools, which is now regulated by national standards.

· The academy will provide facilities for students bringing in packed lunches and ensure free drinking water is readily available at all times.

· As fridge space is not available in school, students are advised to bring packed lunches in insulated bags to stop the food going off.

Packed lunches should include

· At least one portion of fruit and one portion of vegetables every day

· Meat, fish or other source of non-dairy proteins (e.g. lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas, hummus etc_ every day

· Oily fish, such as salmon, at least once every three weeks

· A starchy food such as bread, pasta, rice, couscous, noodles, potatoes every day

· Dairy food such as milk, cheese, yoghurt, fromage frais or custard everyday

· Only water, still or sparkling, fruit juice, semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, yoghurt or milks drinks and smoothies

Packed lunches should NOT include

· Snacks such as crisps, and nuts. Instead include seeds, vegetables and fruit (with no added salt, sugar or fat). Savoury crackers or breadsticks.

· Confectionery such as chocolate bars, chocolate coated biscuits and sweets. Cakes and biscuits are allowed but we encourage your child to eat these only as part of a balanced meal.

· Energy drinks such as Monster, Redball etc

· Sandwiches should not contain chocolate spread or peanut butter

Special diets and allergies We recommend you visit Allery in schools website for accurate, reliable information on managing allergies in schools.

A Good example of a packed lunch

· Protein filled wrap or sandwich

· A piece of fruit

· Carrot and cucumber sticks

· A small sweet treat e.g. yoghurt

· Bottle of water, flavoured or plain