Catering
At Cecil Jones we have a break and lunchtime offer. We provide nutritionally balanced food and offer a varied menu. We tailor our menus to the students’ needs and continue to discuss menu options with them. Menu options are discussed with our students. Meals are prepared using fresh ingredients daily. Our lunch menu cycle includes: vegetarian choices, salad bar and variety of desserts both hot and chilled.
Please click here to view what will be available on the menu:
Our breakfast club offer includes free cereals, toast, fruit, squash and hot drinks. Opening times are from 8.00am until 8.30am.
Morning break allows children to buy healthy snacks both hot and cold.
Opening times are from 10.55am until 11.15am.
A full and varied menu is available from our Café with a free breakfast service before school, break time and lunch time service. There is a variety of food offered every day, ranging from sandwiches to a hot cooked meal. A meal deal is offered which includes a variety of main courses. The meal deal costs students £2.40 and opening times are from 1.15pm until 1.55pm.
To reduce the queue waiting times, we have three separate service points to allow students to buy: hot food, chilled snacks, sandwiches and drinks. Cecil Jones Academy operates a biometric cashless catering system; will be instructed on how to use this on their Induction Days in June.
As your children spend much of their time in school, they need nutritious food for long-term good health. A healthy, balanced diet also helps your child learn in the classroom and leads to improved educational outcomes.
According to World Health Organisation, nearly one-fifth of the world’s children and youth are overweight or obese. In the UK we are seeing a steady increase of overweight children. We need to start raising awareness of this issue when children are young so that they will learn to eat healthily very early on, because habits are set in childhood. They are capable of understanding the effects of food on the body and make smart choices about nutritious foods.
Here at Cecil Jones Academy, we aim to support students making healthy choices. Students on free school meals in years 7 – 11 are strongly encouraged to take the main meal of the day, many Sixth Form students choose to do the same. Meals are freshly cooked each day using seasonal ingredients offering a varied menu of family favourites along with one-off days where students are encouraged to try something new.
Cashless Catering
We have a biometric cashless system for the catering service which has significantly reduced the time taken to pay for meals. When a student has chosen their food, they will scan their finger at the till point and the value of their food will be deducted from their account balance.
The student’s fingerprint itself is not stored by the computer system and cannot be used for identification purposes. During the account creation the system uses an image of the fingerprint to create a mathematical algorithm and then discards the fingerprint; only the numbers remain and these cannot be reinterpreted back into a fingerprint image.
Students will need to top-up their account using ParentPay which allows you to top-up your child’s account using a credit/debit card through a secure website. Alternatively, you can use ‘PayPoint’ in local shops; however, this can take 24 to 48 hours to show on your child’s account.
Students who receive free Academy meals will receive their allowance (as a credit to their account) at the start of the day and will be able to spend it at break and/or lunch time. Any of the allowance that is not spent will be lost at the end of the day. Students are also able to top-up their account if they wish to spend more than the free Academy meal allowance, but the Academy meal allowance will be used first.
To apply for free Academy meals via the Southend Borough Council website please click here.
About our Caterers
The catering service is provided by Harrison’s.
The catering service at Cecil Jones Academy is provided by Harrison Catering Services (http://www.harrisoncatering.co.uk). Since its founding in 1994, Harrison has always been about quality fresh food prepared on-site and served by people who love what they do. Over 100 clients across the UK enjoy a Harrison foodservice, with more than 100,000 meals being served each day by approximately 2,000 staff across more than 270 locations.
Harrison understands that what children eat affects their health and their ability to learn and perform in the classroom. At Cecil Jones, our catering team provides nutritious, balanced meals, and we work to educate the pupils on how to make healthier food choices. Our goal is to instil a love and understanding of fresh, healthy food at a young age that will positively influence them throughout life.
All Harrison staff receive training in how to prepare and serve healthier food through the company’s bespoke Eat Well Live Well© training programme.
Our menu and ingredients
Our high-quality meals are loved by children and staff. Our development chef creates two menus per academic year, ensuring freshness, seasonality of ingredients, balanced nutrition, trends and tastes. Reducing sugar and fat is a priority, as is ensuring ingredients are sourced locally and responsibly from suppliers with the highest standards.
Creatively themed
We pride ourselves on our creativity. Our team bring to life innovative theme days based around the curriculum, making break and lunch time more fun and informative. Our staff fully embrace these special dates in the calendar.
Our catering team at Cecil Jones works with the school council to tailor menus to the tastes and preferences of the pupils. We introduce further interest and excitement to our menus through themed lunches ranging from holidays like Easter and Christmas to cuisines from around the world, tying these into the school curriculum whenever possible.
GDPR
A new set of regulations came into force on 25 May 2018 called the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). This is an important piece of legislation that is designed to provide greater protection for individuals when their personal data is being processed or stored.
In the course of providing school meals to pupils and staff there is a need for the school to share relevant personal data with the caterer, Harrison, including a pupil’s name, class and dietary requirements. This data sharing is classed as ‘legitimate interest’ in terms of the GDPR and we can confirm that Harrison is required to comply with the new regulations in the processing of the personal data.
