School Lunch, Food and Health

School Lunches

Our lunch provider ACCENT CATERING are dedicated to providing fresh, healthy food that children really enjoy. We have our own chef manager who works with the catering team in our on site kitchen to provide attractive, delicious and nutritious food for Rokesly children in the Nursery, Infant and Junior schools. All menus are nutritionally balanced and use locally sourced, seasonal and fresh ingredients wherever possible.

We want to make the mealtime experience a great one for all our children. Rokesly School Council carry out a survey to ask the children about how they’d like the lunch menus improved. Please click the ROKESLY INFANT LUNCH MENUS button to see our latest lunchtime menus and help your child to make their choices of food for lunchtime.

Each class has their own SMSA (school meals supervisor). They promote healthy eating and report back any issues.They stay with their class for the three years children are in our school and they get to know them very well!

All infant children get a free lunch

You don’t need to pay for school meals – all children who attend Rokesly Infants are entitled to a free lunch.

Packed lunches Some parents may choose for their child not to have a free school lunch. Children who have a packed lunch eat with their class in the dining hall. We expect parents to provide well-balanced packed lunches and ask that children do not bring sweets, chocolate or fizzy drinks to school as part of their lunch.

Guidelines on Healthy Packed Lunches are available in school. We have a strict No Nuts policy to protect children with severe nut allergies.

Food in School

We celebrate birthdays and festivals for different religions as they occur during term time. If you wish, you may provide biscuits or a treat for the children to share with their classmates. Sweets, nuts, crisps or chocolate are not allowed. Healthy options are encouraged. Please speak to your child’s teacher to arrange this. Please note that the school cannot provide a birthday party in school for your child.

Medicines in school

If your child needs to take medicine during school time on a regular basis, for example for asthma, we will administer it. We need to have written instructions about administering the medicine, so please collect a form from Mel in the office to give us the details we need. When children are ill, please keep them at home and inform the school on the first morning of the absence. Should your child be prescribed antibiotics but feel well enough to return to school before the course is complete, we are able to administer the antibiotics with parental consent and your GP’s written permission. We may only administer medicines prescribed by a doctor and may not give Calpol or cough medicines.

Health and wellbeing for our children

At Rokesly Infants we are very proud of our Healthy Schools GOLD status which we have achieved every year since 2014. We are one of only a small number of Haringey schools to have achieved this award. To find out more about the award visit Healthy Schools London. We firmly believe that good health helps children make the most of their school experience. Our Healthy School policy helps us to support our children to develop a healthy diet and get plenty of exercise.

Health Concerns Please let us know if your child has any particular health concerns such as asthma or any significant food allergies. Children will allergies will need a Health Care Plan, so staff are aware and can support your child in school. We will take any precautions necessary to safeguard the health of all children in our school. If your child wears glasses, please let the class teacher know when they need to be worn.

When Children are Not Well If your child is ill, please keep them at home and inform the school.

If children have vomiting or diarrhoea, they must be kept at home for a minimum of 48 hours or until they are fully better in line with NHS guidance. More information can be found below:

NHS advice

Vision and Dental Checks

During the year, children will have vision and dental checks. We will let you know in advance when these checks will take place and inform you of any findings.

First Aid at Rokesly

Children love to play and need to run around and exercise. Our playground is suited to this and we have special surfaces under all our equipment, but sometimes accidents do happen. To deal with this, eight members of our staff are qualified to administer first aid on site, including all of our nursery nurses. Children who are injured at school are treated in our welfare room and all injuries that require treatment are recorded. If your child sustains an injury to her or his head, a letter will be sent home to inform you. In cases where an injury is more serious, we will phone you immediately.

It is therefore vitally important to make sure that the school has your daytime telephone number. If your child has a very serious injury then parents will be contacted to come to school immediately. In an emergency, an ambulance may be called and a member of staff will accompany your child and wait with them until a parent arrives.

Headlice

Unfortunately, head lice are a common problem in schools, and Rokesly Infants is no exception. Lice actually like clean hair and anybody can catch them. Please try to help your children think of looking for and treating head lice as a normal part of hair care. Should you wish to discuss the issue with the school nurse, we can arrange it through the school.

Check regularly Please check your children and other family members regularly for nits (tiny white eggs close to the hair root) and lice (the actual creepy crawlies). The Crouch End Health Centre on Middle Lane will advise you on the best way to check for lice, and on appropriate treatments if your child catches them.

Keep us informed If you find lice in your child’s hair, please let us know. We can then send out a letter informing other parents that there is an outbreak in the class (without naming names of course!) and ask them to check for lice too.