School Meals & Menu
Our menu has been created after extensive research into student preferences, but is also nutritious and compliant with all government guidelines.
Our catering service is provided by Innovate IFG, part of the Impact Food Group. Innovate is a well-established and experienced school caterer. The service is provided under contract with Harris Federation.
Innovate IFG welcome the government’s intent to improve School Food Standards: getting more nutritious food into children and making sure school meals continue to play a positive role in health, wellbeing and the school day.
What This Means for Schools and Families
The consultation is now open and we strongly encourage schools, parents and carers to read the proposals and have their say. This is particularly important given the additional compliance expectations being introduced for schools, including greater oversight of School Food Standards, a lead governor for school food in every school, increased visibility of menus and food policy, and the need to consider how packed lunch policies support a consistent approach to healthier choices across the school day.
While most changes are expected from September 2027, the consultation is an important opportunity to help shape what comes next. You can read more and respond to the consultation here. Alternatively, if there are points you would like us to raise as part of the wider sector response, please do get in touch.
How Impact Food Group Is Preparing
We are confident in the progress already made across our menus and in the direction we have been taking for some time. Through our Impact+ approach, we focus on creating mealtime experiences that support energy, concentration and wellbeing, while still being appealing and relevant to students.
Many of the principles now being discussed are already reflected in our offer. Across our menus, we already provide fruit every day as an alternative to more traditional desserts, have introduced more plant-rich dishes, and reduced sugar, fat and salt across our range. We continue to prioritise baked rather than deep-fried items, with dishes prepared without fat where possible, while strengthening nutritional balance through more fibre and healthier everyday choices.
We have also made our menus more transparent, improving the way dishes are named and described to better showcase ingredients and support understanding of more nutritious, plant-forward options, such as lentils in bolognaise and chickpeas in curries. This helps schools, pupils and families make more confident choices around allergens and dietary needs, while also building familiarity with healthier ingredients and encouraging openness to trying new dishes. Our teams are also being trained to support schools confidently through the changes ahead.
Making the Changes Work in Practice
At the same time, any changes must protect the popularity of school meals as well as their nutritional quality. If the offer becomes less appealing to children, there is a real risk that more pupils will move towards packed lunches and other alternatives, which often contain more salty, sugary snacks and offer less positive nutrition overall.
We also believe that any recommended changes must be properly funded. Higher expectations can deliver real benefits, but only if schools and caterers are given the support needed to implement them successfully and sustainably.
As part of this wider conversation, we are actively involved through The School Food People, which works closely with the Department for Education on school food matters. As Vice Chair of The School Food People, I am keen to ensure that schools’ views are reflected as these proposals develop, and that the final framework is both practical and workable for school caterers and schools alike.
We remain committed to working closely with our school partners to deliver food that is nutritious, appealing and trusted by pupils, supporting both healthier choices and a strong, well-used meal service.
If you would like to discuss any of this information further, please get in touch.
Bryan Lygate
Chief Operating Officer
Impact Food Group
Free Breakfast for Students
We are delighted to offer a FREE Breakfast provision in school for our pupils.
The breakfast, that is provided by the National School Breakfast Programme and our caterers Innovate, runs from 8:05am to 8:20am; it includes bagels and porridge.
The National School Breakfast Programme is funded by the Department for Education and run by Family Action to support schools in England. They, together with our catering company Innovate, have the same goal to provide children with a healthy breakfast at the start of the school day. They are committed to supporting child development, and believe a healthy school breakfast, without barrier or stigma, can set up children to succeed and give them the very best chance to learn.
In a normal school year, schools are open just over half the year (taking into account weekends and school holidays). This means even where breakfast is available within school, children are still having breakfast at home almost 50% of the time. Below you will find tips, ideas, information, recipes, videos and quizzes to make breakfast time an easy part of your morning routine at home.
Menus and Price Lists
The menu aims to offer more of what students want, including good food that can be eaten on the go.
Download the current lunchtime menu (updated October 2025). The menu runs on a three-weekly cycle and includes halal and non-halal options.
The current price lists are:
- General price list (updated September 2025)
- Main Meal
- Jacket Potato Deal
- Salad
- Pasta Deal
- Roll Deal
Cashless Catering System
The academy uses a cashless catering system (bio-metric) for food and drink purchases. The system enables parents and carers to credit their child’s account by using ParentPay, a system which allows accounts to be credited online. Further information regarding ParentPay is available at www.parentpay.com.
The bio-metric system uses the fingerprint of the student and the software calculates a huge digital number from the image, and it is the number itself which is stored as a personal identification number. The actual fingerprint image is NOT stored. When a student uses the fingerprint scanner, the scanner recalculates the number and recognises the student. Such software is now being used worldwide as a means of providing additional personal security.
Students and parents can be reassured that this system has a very high level of security and that it is not possible to reconstruct the original fingerprint. The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has scrutinised the technology and has stated “I would encourage you to employ the system using finger print images. It seems to me that the use of bio-metric identifiers allows users to verify their identity without the risk of intrusions into privacy...I would certainly like to be able to point to it as an example of good practice”.
Can we use this opportunity to remind and encourage parents and carers to register for their entitlement for Free School Meals to ensure that students are able to access meals and the catering facilities. The new cashless system will automatically add students with the entitlement and not distinguish them from other students.
If you have any queries or require additional information please contact the ParentPay and Free School Meals administrator by emailing: l.graham@harrisbattersea.org.uk
Download the Eatwell Guide from Public Health England, which provides a useful overview of what food groups make up a balanced and healthy diet.
Free School Meals
Free School Meals are available to any full-time student who is still at school and eligible. This includes nursery children who attend full days and also sixth form students.
Please click HERE to apply for free school meals.
Eligibility
You can get Free School Meals for your child if you or your partner gets either:
- Universal Credit.
- Income Support.
- Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- The Guarantee element of State Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit, provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual income of £16,190 or less, as assessed by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
From 13 April 2022 the government have permanently extended free school meal eligibility to children in all households with no recourse to public funds (NRPF), subject to maximum income thresholds.
Parents and carers with pupils aged 16-18 in Further Education can also apply for free school meals.
Where a parent is entitled to Working Tax Credit during the four-week period immediately after their employment ceases, or after they start to work less than 16 hours per week, their children are entitled to free school lunches. Children who receive a qualifying benefit in their own right are also eligible to receive Free School Meals.
How to apply
Please click HERE to apply for free school meals.
If you do not have internet access or require assistance with the application to the Academy you can contact the Academy office on 020 7622 0026 ext 4362 or via email using info@harrisbattersea.org.uk who will help you with your application. You can also come into the Academy for assistance.
The only information you will need to process your application is:
- Your Name
- Date of birth
- Address
- National Insurance Number
If your application is successful then you will receive immediate confirmation. The Academy will also be notified and your child will be eligible to receive the free school meal within one day.
The Academy will then require you to provide the written evidence to confirm the entitlement period and to assist with the supply of the uniform entitlement.