Lunchtimes at school are an opportunity for all children to join together to eat their lunch and play in the playground. This allows children to make new friendships with children from other year groups; we also find that older children enjoy helping their younger school friends.
All children are encouraged to eat a balanced diet which we regularly promote through our curriculum. Children have the choice to either bring a packed lunch to school or take advantage of a healthy school meal. If you are providing a packed lunch for your child and struggling for ideas click here for some healthy lunchbox recipes.
Please do not send any food into school, as part of lunch or snack, that contains nut
products as we have number of children with significant nut allergies
Dolce provide the school lunch service at Headlands Primary School and are a well-established, family owned company, specialising in school food. All of the menus continue to be fully compliant with the Government's School Food Plan and Dolce ensure that all pupils have a popular and healthy choice every day, with options to meet the needs of all age groups and those with notified special dietary requirements.
Please note that free meals are automatically available to all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 under the Universal Infant School Meals Scheme. However, you can apply for free school meals for older children in full-time education up to the age of 18 if you are in receipt of any of the following:-
- Income Support
- Income Based Job Seekers Allowance
- Income related Employment and Support Allowance
- Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- Guarantee Element of Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit (provided you are not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
- Working Tax Credit run-on (paid for four weeks after you stop qualifying)
- Universal Credit (providing your annual net income is no more than £7,400, as assessed by earnings from up to three of your most recent assessment periods)
From the start of the 2026 to 2027 academic year, all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit attending a local authority maintained school, academy or free school will be entitled to receive a free meal.
Going forward, there will be 2 categories of benefits-related free school meals:
Targeted FSM - which continues to be based on the current threshold, covering pupils who are in households in receipt of Universal Credit with annual household earnings of £7,400 or less. These pupils can claim a free school meal daily during term time, they will be able to access the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Scheme and schools will be able to claim an additional amount of funding (pupil premium) to support the students educational attainment.
Expanded FSM - a new category covering pupils who do not qualify for targeted FSM, but who are in households receiving Universal Credit, will now be able to claim a free school meal daily, during term time only; but NO additional support or funding can be claimed through the pupil premium element
Ending Transitional Protections
Transitional protections for free school meals have been in effect since 1 April 2018. This has meant that pupils becoming eligible for free meals under the benefits-based criteria have retained their entitlement, even if their household circumstances have changed.
Transitional protections apply until the end of the 2025 to 2026 academic year (31st July 2026). From the start of the 2026 to 2027 academic year, transitional protections for free school meals will end.
Households must meet the new FSM eligibility criteria from the start of the 2026 to 2027 academic year to continue receiving their FSM provision.
To summarise:
Free school meal eligibility is being extended to all families receiving universal credit, which may result in some families becoming eligible for the first time.
Eligibility is checked on an annual basis, which may result in some families currently receiving free school meals no longer being eligible for one next year.
All families will need to check their eligibility from 1st July 2026 to access Free School Meals for their children from September 2026
The changes do not affect the Universal Infant Free School Meal Scheme, so children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will continue to receive free meals as usual and low-income families can still apply for additional support through Key Stage 1 Pupil Premium.
To apply for Free School Meals for 2026-2027 and for re-checks of eligibility click HERE
If you are eligible for Targeted free school meals you will automatically be eligible for Pupil Premium. For more information on Pupil Premium please see here.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions regarding school meals, allergens, payments etc, please do not hesitate to contact Dolce Customer Care Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm, on 01942 707709 or by email to customercare@dolce.co.uk and they will be happy to help.
If you experience any technical issues with access to SchoolGrid, please contact SchoolGrid Technical Support on 01506 300310 or by email to support@schoolgrid.co.uk
