Free School Meals

[johnlewis]

Can anyone tell me how children at a Junior School, which operates a cafeteria at lunchtime, deal with free school meals?

My dd is entitled to free school meals but I don't want her to stand out from everyone else. The school is in a fairly well off area and according to ofsted the take up of free school meals is less than 1%.

I'd be really grateful for any help. Many thanks.

do u usually pay monies to the secrety/school or do the kids take cash in each day. at primary school it isnt usually obvious in the canteen who has free and who pays.

At infants we had to pay termly for school meals so it wasn't obvious. Now she has to take in cash each day and I just wondered what they did instead.

ask if she pays at the till in the canteen, or pays it to the teacher.

She pays at the canteen.

At our local school they have a list of names by the till, et ticked off when taken meal. No-one makes a big deal but there are some in every class I suppose.

she may be issued with a ticket then at the school for her lunch. which means it is obvious to other people.

Thanks for helping. I decided to ring the school this morning and they were very nice about it. They said that dd would be issued with a token and that no one else should really notice. Apparently there are about 6 others in a school of 100 so not very many. She assured me though that dd would not be made to feel awkward or different from the other children. I hope this proves to be the case, I don't want her bullied for being different.