School meals

Our aim, along with the School, is to provide our students with an exceptional catering experience. We plan exciting menus packed with health, variety, goodness and attitude. We also make our food look great and taste as good as it should. It is important to us that children eat well and as such our chef takes great care to provide an adventurous, healthy and balanced diet to our children.

Students need to be eating good food regularly to make the most of their learning. At Ark Academy, we use cashless catering so students do not need to carry cash. Parents can top up their child’s account online using iPayimpact at any time.

The price for a meal deal which includes either a hot meal or baguette and a dessert is £2.80.  All school meals can be paid for via iPayimpact.

A vegetarian option is always available, and the kitchen is usually able to cater for special dietary/medical needs if given advance notice – please contact the school office so we can help you organise this if necessary.

We use a secure online payment system called iPayimpact which offers parents/carers a convenient and flexible way to pay for a range of school services. The system has a ‘shopping basket’ approach, allowing payments to be made for each child including dinner money, school trips, uniforms, after-school clubs, and many other school payments in one easy transaction - just add to the basket and check out! Please note the range of payment services will vary from school to school.

Key benefits:

• Easy registration process
• One transaction for multiple children and school payments
• Children no longer need to carry cash to school where it can be lost or stolen
• Review payments made, purchase history and current balance
• Receive email alerts for low balances and/or recurring payments
• Make payments by debit or credit card
• Online meal ordering (primary school)

iPayimpact is a secure payment website where you can make online payments, 24/7, from any internet enabled device (PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone). Payments are handled by Capita's secure payment gateway where you can enter your debit or credit card details.

To register for an account, you will need your child's Unique Reference Number provided in the email/letter sent to you.

If you are experiencing any difficulties with iPayimpact or need support, please email ipayqueries@arkacademy.org.

For further information and support please click on the link below. 

All children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are entitled to a Universal Infant Free School Meal (UIFSM); a government funded scheme. This offer does not depend on your household income or whether you receive any benefits – every child in these year groups is eligible to take up the offer.

If you meet the eligibility criteria for FSM, it is extremely important that you claim for this. The meal your child receives will be no different. Schools now receive funding from the government for every child that is or has been registered for Free School Meals (FSM) at any time in the last six years. This additional funding is called Pupil Premium Grant (PPG) and is used to support children’s learning. PPG is paid to schools in accordance with Section 14 of the Education Act 2002 and should be used to:

• Raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and close the gap with their peers; and
• Support children and young people with parents in the regular armed forces

For further information on how we use the Pupil Premium Grant at Ark Academy, please look at our Funding statements for more information.

Entitlement to free school meals is handled by the local authority Brent Council. You can find free school meals eligibility criteria on the Brent Council website here.

You can then apply for free school meals through this area on the Brent Council website.

In order to determine if you are eligible and to apply please click here.

Our school operates a cashless automated system in the canteen. The daily allowance of £2.80 is automatically allocated to the student’s meal account at school while the student remains anonymous, i.e. other students will not know who is receiving Free School Meals.

Primary

During the clubs the children interact with children from Reception to Year 6 and take part in a range of activities including creative arts, music, IT, sports and story sessions. The adults are all members of our school staff and know the children very well. The club is:

• based in the middle hall.
• open from 7:50am until classes start.
• accommodates children from 4-11.
• charged at a fixed rate regardless of the time children arrive.
• supervised by school staff.
• provides the following menu - scrambled and poached eggs, beans, toast, porridge, a range of cereal, crumpets, pancakes, fruit, yoghurt, smoothies and juice.
• provides activities for the children.
• can be used by parents whenever they require childcare.

Secondary

We operate a café style breakfast service for students, which operates from 8am until 8.20am.

Students have the opportunity to purchase a range of delicacies.