Eating at School

The lunch period is an important part of every child’s social development. Children spend ten minutes eating lunch in their classrooms after which they go outside to play.

The importance of good eating habits is emphasized at every grade level. Please support this concept when you prepare snacks and lunch from home.

All students are able to have fresh fruit and water during class time. Please send only water in a plastic bottle. For safety reasons, drinks in cans or bottles and chewing gum are not to be brought to school.

On wet/extreme heat days children will remain indoors during recess and lunchtime.

Healthy Lunch Ideas

Busy kids need a healthy school lunch to boost their energy and help them concentrate and learn in the afternoon. Here are some top lunch box tips!

Ensure you include a range of fresh fruit and vegetables and vary the food daily so kids don’t become bored.

• Offer a variety of whole grain breads, rolls, pita bread and flat breads. Use avocado as a spread instead of butter or margarine. Cheese and yoghurt are ideal.
• Kids need a serve of protein at lunchtime. Ensure you include lean meat, chickpeas or tuna.
• Add a chilled bottle of water and limit juice.
• It’s important to keep food in the lunch box cold to inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria.
• Pack the school lunch in an insulated lunch box and include a small freezer brick or freeze a bottle of water and pop it into the lunchbox to keep food cool.
• Kids like fresh fruit cut and ready to eat. Fruit salad is the ideal lunch box solution; it’s colourful, easy to eat and bursting with vitamins.
• Offer different seasonal fruits each day for a change in flavour, colour and texture.
• Freeze fruits in the summer or for sport days. Simply pop the frozen fruit into a small sealable plastic bag or airtight container.
• If including whole fruit in the lunchbox, select fruit that is a suitable size for a child to easily hold in their hand and eat (this is particularly important for younger children).
• Peel and slice or cut fruit if possible and choose seedless varieties of grapes, watermelon and mandarins.
• If you’re adding tomato to sandwiches, place the tomato between fillings and not directly onto the bread. This prevents the bread becoming soggy.
• When using avocado, mash and drizzle with a little lemon or lime juice to prevent the avocado from discolouring.
• Mild tasting and crunchy lettuce varieties like Iceberg and Oak leaf and Lebanese cucumbers are ideal for kids.
• Add leftover (or cook extra) roast pumpkin or sweet potato to sandwiches, wraps and roll fillings. Naturally sweet and loaded with beneficial antioxidants, roast vegetables team well with a range of fillings.
• Make salads or salad sandwich fillings interesting by using a range of vegetables like grated carrot, snow pea sprouts, lettuce or rocket or baby spinach, sliced celery, tomatoes, avocado and cucumber.
• Use a vegetable peeler to slice cucumber into thin ribbons for sandwich fillings.