Family Dining

Lunch times create opportunities to bring school communities together and it is a key part of our day. During a meal people not only enjoy food but also bond socially by building relationships, conversing, and learning from one another. Lunch time is a natural environment to teach table manners, encourage supportive relationships and nurture social skills for children through peer and adult role models. The ability for children to learn these skills in the school hall through a family- style service creates a unique learning opportunity, outside of the classroom.

At Kippax Ash tree lunchtime is a key part of our school day. We eat lunch ‘family dining’ style, during which the class teacher or the Year 6 server will serve the food to the other children on their table (as opposed to having to queue at a counter to collect their food). We all sit down as a class (7 people per table with an adult or a Year 6 server) and eat together; adults and our Year 6 servers eat the school lunch with the children to encourage and model good conversations using the ‘Table Talk’ question starters on the hall screen. We serve each other food and help tidy away together. We value this time and see it as a key learning opportunity.

We have two lunch sittings in the main school hall. Year 1,2 and 6 eat 12pm-12.30pm and Year 3,4 and 5 eat 12.30pm -1pm. Children in Foundation Stage eat in the Early Years Unit with their Family Group Leaders in a Family Dinning style.

All children from Reception to Year 2 are entitled to school meals, free of charge. We aim to be a very healthy school and see eating as a way to reinforce our values and commitment to a high-quality education. We know that the climb to university is long and hard, so we provide our students with nourishing and healthy meals to keep them going. All dietary needs can be catered for as our chef cooks the meals each morning. Please find a copy of our Family Dining Menu below.