School Meals

Our Caterer

The school’s catering service is provided by Taylor Shaw, caterer of choice for thousands of secondary school students across the UK.

We believe lunch is an integral part of the school day. When students sit down with friends, they cement relationships, enhance social skills, and replenish both their body and mind.

Our menus are exciting, nutritious, and appealing, served in a supportive environment designed to educate students about how they can make healthy choices to support their wellbeing and improve their ability to focus.

Our freshly prepared menus meet the Government’s School Food Standards and meet the bronze Food for Life standards.

Students are permitted to bring their own packed lunch to school which must be eaten in the dining hall. Packed lunches should follow our Healthy Eating and Drinking Policy. Fizzy drinks are not permitted.

If you have any catering queries, please call the Finance Office on 0161 232 5522.

Primary Phase Only: If your child requires a medical diet due to a food allergy, food intolerance or a medical condition requiring an adapted menu (e.g. carbohydrate count for Type 1 Diabetes), please complete the online medical diet request via the Taylor Shaw online portal; LunchHound.

For further support, please refer to Taylor Shaw Parents and Carers User Guide. Kindly note, you do not need to make a request for dietary preferences or for the following diets: vegan, pescatarian, vegetarian or halal, as these requirements can be met through our standard menus.

Menus

Primary Phase Menu

Secondary Phase and Sixth Form Menu

Healthy Eating Promotion

Good nutritional choices are vital to students’ health, academic achievement, and wider performance at school. Our Healthy Swaps campaign encourages the uptake of healthier items by providing suggestions for more nutritious options that are readily available.

Theme Days

Keep an eye out for our regular Theme Days and Pop Ups featuring fantastic flavours for students to try including our Taste of Greece, May The Fourth Be With You and Veganuary!

Allergen Management

At Taylor Shaw, all our colleagues are trained and up to date with allergen procedures and will provide accurate allergen information to your child. If your child has allergies, we would ask that they speak to our server for information so that they can be provided with the information they need to make an informed and safe choice.

Eating a School Lunch is Better for Your Child

Did you know only 1% of packed lunches meet the nutritional standards that currently apply to school food? Five reasons school lunches are better:

They save time and money
They’re nutritionally better than a packed lunch
They promote a varied diet and encourages new tastes
They support inclusivity, dining with friends
They help academic attainment by being linked to improved concentration

Cashless Catering

WHGS offers a biometric cashless catering system, using finger scan identification to prevent fraudulent use*. The finger scan uses a pattern of 8 points and a complete fingerprint cannot be reconstructed from this data. The scan is encrypted in a unique format so that it is not compatible with any other system. The data is kept on a secure server which is not accessible from outside the school. All data will be used internally only and will not be available to any external agency. Data is used and recorded in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 (GDPR). In the future the same system may also be extended to other uses such as the control of library books and electronic registration.

We need your specific consent for your child(ren)’s biometric data to be used. You will be asked to complete the consent form when your child joins the school.

* Children in Nursery do not use the finger scan but have meals recorded manually. Printed statements are available from the Finance Office on request. All other pupils, including those entitled to free school meals, will operate the system by using their finger.

Catering accounts must be in credit at all times in order to purchase food and/or drinks in the dining hall, as cash payments are not accepted.

If you wish to restrict the daily spend, please advise the Finance Office.

Prices
Main Meal Deal - includes up to 3 items	£2.40
Mini Meal Deal - includes 2 items	£1.75

Drinks: various cartons and bottled drinks available to purchase (drinking water always available).

Food also available for purchase between 8.00am - 8.25am and during mid-morning break (Main School only).

Free School Meals

From September 2026, the way families qualify for Free School Meals is changing.

Under the new arrangements, all children living in households that receive Universal Credit will be eligible for Free School Meals. This change means that many more families will now qualify for support.

If you receive Universal Credit, please apply now – even if you have applied previously (prior to 1st June 2026). Applications for free school meals should be submitted through the Manchester City Council website.

If you do not live under Manchester City Council, you need to find which local authority you need to apply under.

To ensure that eligibility is correctly assessed under the new criteria, all parents and carers must apply or reapply for Free School Meals, even if their child currently receives them. Completing an application will help ensure that children continue to receive their entitlement and will also enable schools to access any additional funding available to support pupils.

From September 2026:

• Eligibility will be re-checked each June/July.

• All families must meet the current eligibility criteria to continue receiving Free School Meals.

What do you need to do?

Even if your income has increased since your last application, your child may still qualify under the new system.

If you have not applied since 1 June 2026, please do so now to ensure that your child continues to receive free meals.

The school will be notified once eligibility is confirmed. Submitting an application does not mean meals will start immediately.

We encourage all families who receive Universal Credit to apply as soon as possible. If you need support with completing your application, please contact school who will be happy to assist you through the process.

Who is eligible?

Your child may qualify for free school meals if you get any of the following:

· Income Support

· Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance

· Income-related Employment and Support Allowance

· The guaranteed part of Pension Credit

· Child Tax Credit (as long as your annual gross income is £16,190 or less and you don’t get Working Tax Credit)

· Working Tax Credit run-off after you come off Working Tax Credit

· Universal Credit that you applied for on, or after, 1 April 2018. As long as your household income is less than £7,400 a year after tax, not including any benefits

· Your child may also qualify if you are an asylum seeker, or if they receive any of these benefits directly, instead of through a parent or guardian.

Who can help me if I need it?

If you are unsure whether you are eligible or need assistance with an application, please contact
the School Office for Primary or the Finance Office for Secondary, who will be happy to help.

Breakfast Bagels

Every morning in the Secondary Phase, students are welcome to enjoy a bagel for breakfast, free of charge. Many students take up the offer and enjoy the warm bagel, ensuring that they have the fuel necessary for learning!

Our bagels are provided through Magic Breakfast and are an excellent source of energy to start the day with. Eating breakfast is essential to being ready to learn so we encourage everyone to eat breakfast either at home or by taking advantage of our free breakfast bagels.

Parents