Thanks to the Mayor of London, all Year 3-6 children in London state schools will benefit from free school meals throughout the 2024-25 academic year.
HES Catering offers balanced, tasty and nutritious meal choices to help children improve their focus & better their learning. Your child will get a healthy, balanced meal every day with different options to suit every dietary needs.
How do free school meals work?
Your child will be able to receive free school meals if they are in reception class, year 1 or year 2 regardless of benefits or household earnings.
For the 2024-2025 school year, children in year 3, year 4, year 5 and year 6 will also be able to receive free school meals regardless of benefits or household earnings. Funding for this is provided by the Mayor of London and it covers schools in London boroughs only.
Pupils in years 3 to 6 who receive free school meals are still able to apply for Pupil Premium.
What is Pupil Premium?
Pupil Premium payments are additional funds for pupils which goes directly to schools. Applying for Pupil Premium could grant schools an extra £2,010 per eligible pupil which could further help the schools. That’s more money for extra curricular activities, teacher development, and support for children who need it most.
This will also ensure you’ll receive other benefits you may be entitled to, like food vouchers during the holidays.
What do you need to do?
Help your school & ditch the packed lunch!
If your child is in years 3 to 6, they will automatically receive free school meals from day one. We also invite you to apply for Pupil Premium if your child is eligible to add additional and much-needed funding to your school’s budget.
Please click here to use our quick and easy eligibility checker and application*.
*Please note: this service is only available to Havering residents, excluding Draper’s Academy students.
Did you know?
Nutrients to help children grow and develop
Only 1% of packed lunches meet the nutritional standards applied to school meals According to research conducted by the School Food Plan. Our meals are developed by a qualified nutrionist and we ensure all of our meals exceed the national nutritional standards.
Banishing food boredom
Our menus run on a two-week cycle with several meal choices per day. This ensures children don’t get bored and even the pickiest eaters are catered for!
Helping with the cost of living
To prepare a packed lunch that is equivalent to a school meal in terms of nutritional value will cost on average £2.25 per day (November 2022 figures) and this price could start to rise as food costs and inflation rise. It would be difficult to replicate our options with a packed lunch.
Highest quality ingredients
Our commitment to high quality ingredients enables us to work closely with our suppliers ensuring the ingredients we use in our dishes are fresh, locally sourced, and sustainable.
Further information
You can learn more about the Mayor of London’s initiative, here.
To read more information from the London Borough of Havering, click here.
To check your child’s eligibility beyond 2024-25, apply here.
