We offer catering and food services inspired by the Highstreet and modelled on pupil feedback.
Who are Chartwells?
Our education catering and food services team are proud to serve millions of nutritious, fun and tasty meals to students in schools, academies, colleges and universities across England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. On top of catering for students we also dish up great tasting meals to a host of educators across both the public and private sectors.
What does this mean for my child?
We offer catering and food services inspired by the Highstreet and modelled on pupil feedback.
Chartwells chefs go to great lengths to create food that looks good, tells a story and is in tune with the latest trends, because that’s what pupils tell us they want – food that’s “tasty, lovely and delicious”.
Explore tastes from around the world – we love to give our high school students a real variety of foods to choose from, so lunch times are a period of their day they really look forward to. From our global adventures which includes taste sensations from India, China and more, to our deep south diner, salads, sandwiches and snacks, students are never bored, only hungry for more!
The great news is that you can rest assured that as a whole the recipes and menu offer are nutritionally balanced, compliant to the legal School Food Standards and approved by our team of registered nutritionists.
John Smeaton Academy offers 3 types of provision and the menu and times can be found below:
- Breakfast bagels & cereal available free to all students (Served 8.10am – 8.30am in the Canteen)
- Mid-Morning break (10:00am – 10:20am) – view menu
- Lunch (12:20pm– 1:00pm) – view menu
If you would like to find out more about what Chartwells can provide, please click on the following link:
If you provide your child with food from home, you may wish to consider a school meal as an alternative, as our menus are highly popular with students and offer good value for money.
Prices of all items can be found here
Health Eating Policy and Allergies
Students may bring food and drink from home into the academy. This is on the proviso that these food items meet with our healthy eating policy; the health of our students is of great importance to us and The GORSE Academies Trust takes seriously its responsibility for establishing ‘healthy’ habits and behaviours in students. Throughout their time at the academy students will be involved in regular activities that promote the importance of leading a healthy and active lifestyle. As a consequence, The GORSE Gets Healthy student representatives have agreed that students are not permitted to eat/drink the following items on academy premises: energy drinks, fizzy drinks (with the exception of non-flavoured carbonated water), chocolate and sweets. Where students bring these items into school a Negative Comment will be issued and the rationale of the healthy eating policy will be reinforced. If you would like to know more about GORSE Gets Healthy, please visit: www.gorsegetshealthy.co.uk.
Students are able to drink still, plain water in lessons from their personal drink container where they have requested permission.
John Smeaton Academy is a nut free school, and all our foods provided in our canteen are nut free. Students are expected to not bring any foods into the academy that contain any types of nuts.
Free School Meals
The links below will take parents to the Leeds Council’s website which gives more information on Free School Meals, including an application form in .pdf format and an on-line application form.
https://www.leeds.gov.uk/schools-and-education/apply-for-free-school-meals
The daily allowance for students entitled to free school meals is £2.58 a day.
Students use ParentPay – our cashless payment system – to buy their food and drink, a system that can easily be ‘topped up’ by parents and carers at home or students are also, currently, able to top up in school.
Every day young people across Leeds are missing out on their free school meal. At John Smeaton Academy we encourage families to check if they are eligible; it could save £10 a week for each child on roll.
Families are entitled to free school meals if they are in receipt of the following benefits:
- 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 guaranteed element of Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
- Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
- Universal Credit – if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)
Please note: Families receiving working tax credit, regardless of their income level, do not qualify for free school meals
It is our understanding that families can still claim free school meals if:
- They live with relatives or friends in Leeds and so do not have any direct housing costs.
- If they live outside Leeds (and pay their council tax to a different local authority other than Leeds City Council), by completing the Free School Meals Only claim form for Non-Leeds residents.
- If they are asylum seekers and currently receiving NASS Support.
To find out if you are eligible for free school meals and to receive a claim form please call Leeds Revenues and Benefits Service on 0113 2224404. Alternatively, you can apply online at:
https://leeds-hbnewclaim.egovhub.net/HBNewClaim/launch.
If you would like support in filling out the form please contact the academy and we will support you with the process.
If your child is currently in receipt of Free School Meals you are entitled to financial assistance in respect of enrichment visits. For full details of The GORSE Academies Trust’s policy please visit the policies section of the website and refer to The Charging and Remissions Policy.
To access the financial support in respect of enrichment visits you will need to complete a FSM Enrichment Remuneration Request Form for each enrichment visit you wish your child to take part in. This form must be handed in to the Visit Leader at the same time as the signed consent form for the trip. Applications made after this date will only by accepted if a change in circumstances can be evidenced. In general, unless there are exceptional circumstances, you should anticipate to at least cover the cost of the transport.
If your child is not currently in receipt of Free School Meals but you are experiencing financial hardship or your child is a Looked After Child, it may be possible to access some financial support in respect of educational visits. To be considered for this please make an application to our Supporting Achievement Fund (SAF) by completing a SAF form which can be accessed below.
If you have any questions please contact your child’s Year Team Manager
Parent Pay & CIVICA Cashless Cloud
At John Smeaton Academy we accept payments online for dinner money using a secure website called ParentPay. We also use a till system called CIVICA Cashless Cloud. Once parents have topped up their child’s Parent Pay account the balance is then filtered through to the till system.
Find out more on our ParentPay page.
Hydration
At John Smeaton Academy we have water fountains located along the main corridor of the ground floor, all dispensing cold water. Student are encouraged to bring in re-usable water bottle to use these facilities. Additionally, reusable JSA-branded water bottles are available to purchase from Student Services.
