School Meals & Parentpay

This page contains information about:

  • Our School Meals
  • Our Cashless Catering
  • Parentpay
  • Free School Meals
  • Free Bus Pass eligibility with Free School Meals
  • 16-19 Bursary Fund (Free School Meals)

Our School Meals

We have joined forces with Food for Thought (FFT) to support our existing in-school catering provision. FFT is a 'not for profit' school meals company that was set up by a group of local Headteachers, who wanted to provide healthy school meals at an affordable price.

All the meals are prepared from scratch in the kitchen, using, where possible, locally sourced, organic ingredients. In addition to main meals, students will be able to have beans on toast, Welsh Rarebit with crispy bacon bits and Mexican Quesadillas. We of course continue to offer the ever popular roast dinner and other firm favourites. It is important to create an offer, which gives an interesting and varied choice but which also provided the chance for all our customers to eat a balanced and healthy meal. We use and promote fresh fruit and vegetables, where possible procured locally. And also meet the criteria necessary for a Healthy School. We think we have something for everyone and students are very pleased with the choices on offer. All daily aspects of catering provision within the school will be met by the in house catering team.

We were also proud to be one of the first schools in England to sign up to the National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP), funded by the Department for Education and delivered by the charities Family Action and Magic Breakfast.

We will be reviewing the new weekly menus on an ongoing basis and will be taking feedback from students and feedback from parents and carers would be very welcome too.

We will endeavour to provide samples of our food at open evenings and parents evening so hopefully you will be able to test out our menus for yourselves.

We look forward to seeing you in our restaurant and hope that you will enjoy your eating experience.

If you have any questions regarding the catering provision at Gateacre please do not hesitate to contact the catering team at school.

 Click here to view our Sample Menu

Cashless Catering

We operate a cashless catering system in school so that money does not exchange hands and purchases of school dinners, snacks and beverages is electronic using biometric registration and recognition system. 
The system provides us with a more efficient, faster and ultimately better quality of service. It incorporates the latest biometric technology and eliminates the need for pupils to carry cash throughout the day, reducing the risk of bullying.

Please be assured that a fingerprint is not stored, a reference of a small number of points on the finger is scanned, converted into a code and the next time the childs finger is scanned it simply checks that the same points are in the same places, the details cannot be extracted or used for any other purpose.

There are obvious safeguarding benefits and efficiency at the food serving points as no money changes hands, students do not have to carry cash around school, parents do not need to give children cash to take to school for lunches (and school trips) and are instead encouraged to keep their child’s cashless catering account topped up automatically using the Parent Pay system by debit card or credit card online.  This gives you peace of mind that dinner money is safe and being used for that purpose, school trip money is safe and used only for the payment of school trips (when indicated).

A daily ‘spend limit’ of £5 will be programmed into the system for all students. This can be increased or decreased for an individual student by making a written request to the kitchen manager.

Biometric Registration

For Cashless Catering purposes students are registered with a biometric finger scan used to identify their account at the till.  Biometric registration does not store fingerprints but translates it into a set of encrypted code, a unique digitally encrypted biometric code, to identify each students' cashless catering account at our catering tills.
Each student has their own cashless catering account registered to them, operated using their finger or thumb at the catering tills (biometric recognition).
Biometric Consent is sought from parents in the Data Collection Sheet during the enrollment process. Please complete the Data Collection Sheet in your welcome pack in full on both sides and return it to school.

All Biometric data is stored securely in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and is not transferred, shared, accessed, used or stored for any other purpose than cashless catering (school dinners). 

If parents choose not to consent to biometric registration for their child, a lunch card can be issued alternatively at a cost of £5 each but please note they do not have the same level of security as the Biometric System.  It will be your child's responsibility to keep their lunch card safe and if lost a replacement card will cost £5 in every instance.

Student biometric data is deleted when a student leaves Gateacre School.

Parent Pay

We use Parent Pay, a secure online payment portal to enable parents to credit money to their child's cashless catering account for school dinners, snacks or to pay for trips.

Parent Pay enables parents to credit money to their child’s cashless catering account or top it up at any time,  24/7 online by credit or debit card.  

When a student enrolls at Gateacre, parents automatically receive a letter confirming their unique activation code and ID for their Parent Pay account. Please keep this safe.

Students can still top up their account in school at any of the 3 revaluation pay-point machines around school to pay cash into their cashless catering account. 

To make payments online, parents/carers need to use their activation code once received and set up their own personal account. Please click the links below to access download a guide to our online payment system and to access ParentPay and activate your account or login.

Parent Pay Guide

Having problems topping up online?

If you are having problems with your ParentPay account, please contact our Finance Department on 0151 363 1111.

Making payments for school using PayPoint stores

You can make payments for school in cash by visiting any store displaying the yellow and purple PayPoint sign. 

To find out where you can pay please click here and enter your full post code to receive a list of your nearest stores.

Free School Meals

If you are in receipt of income support or other means tested benefits, then your child is entitled to a free school meal. Please make a claim and use your entitlement – it is a pity to waste it.


Eligibility

You can get free school meals if you receive any one of the following:

  • Income Support
  • Income based Jobseeker's Allowance
  • Income related Employment Support Allowance
  • Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
  • The guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
  • Child Tax Credit  - as long as you have a yearly household income of less than £16,190 (as assessed by HM Revenue and Customs) and do not get
  • Working Tax Credit
  • Working Tax Credit run-on (paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)
  • Universal Credit.
How to claim

For Liverpool residents, it is quickest to apply online for an immediate decision. The online application form checks whether your child is eligible and gives you an instant answer.

  • If you receive Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support there is no need to complete the form - just contact the council Tel: 0151 233 3009 and they will update your details to include free school meals. 
  • If you live in Liverpool and already receive free school meals but wish to register another child, just contact the council Tel: 0151 233 3009 instead of completing the form again.
  • Foster parents already receive funding and are not eligible for free school meals.

Click here to apply online for Free School Meals and get an instant decision.

Universal Credit

From 1st April 2018, the Department for Education made amendments to the eligibility criteria for free school meals to reflect the roll out of Universal Credit full service.

From this date onwards your child will only be eligible for free schools meals under Universal Credit if you and your partner have net earned income of less than £7,400 per year (assessed from up to three of your most recent assessment periods).

18 and over?

If you are over 18 and still attend school, you can claim for free school meals if you receive any of the first three allowances listed above.

Knowsley Residents should contact their council Tel: 0151 443 4042 or complete a Knowsley FSM application form

How are school meals paid?

If your claim is successful the school will be notified that your child can have free school meals (FSM). School will ensure that this information is treated with the strictest confidence and handled sensitively.

We know from our records that lots of parents do not claim their entitlement of a Free School Meal for their son/daughter, or feel that they can cope without - which not only loses the opportunity for them to receive a free daily meal, but also loses money for the school. We receive additional funds for each and every student claiming free school meals, called Pupil Premium, based on the number of students claiming free school meals, and provides extra funding for us to support your child. School positively encourages parents to apply for FSM.

If parents have reservations that their child may be embarrassed or singled out, let us assure you that our cashless catering system makes it impossible to differentiate between those students receiving free school meals and those whose parents have paid in advance. Other students would not know who is on FSM.  It simply means that your child has an allowance for a free school meal every day, without the worry.

Don't lose your entitlement, claim Free School Meals, it's quick and easy - make an application now online for an immediate decision. Please find the link to apply near the top of this page.

Free Bus Pass

If you are eligible for Free School Meals you may also be entitled to a Free Bus Pass. Click here to complete the appropriate form.

16-19 Bursary Fund

Get help to pay for essential education-related costs if you’re 16 to 19 and in further education or training.

The Bursary Fund can help pay for costs like, equipment you might need for your course, lunch and transport to and from your school or college.

You could get a bursary of £1,200 a year if you’re:

  • In care or a care leaver.
  • Claiming Income Support.
  • Disabled and getting Employment and Support Allowance, and Disability Living Allowance.

If you aren’t in one of these groups, you could still get a bursary depending on your personal circumstances. Click here for further information.

 

My Child's teachers are fantastic and communication has been excellent throughout his time in school.
Year 11 Parent