Catering

Students may have a school dinner or may prefer to bring a packed lunch from home. There is a choice of meals, including vegetarian dishes, at a cost of £2.74 for each meal, available daily from the dining hall. The current menu and price list can be downloaded from the menu on the right. 

Students eat in various 'sittings' which are allocated to each year group on a rota system.  In their first week at Chailey, Year 7 students are given an early sitting to help them get used to the dining hall and the general system as early as possible. If a student is taking part in an outing or sports event, suitable arrangements will be made for lunch.  Some students may attend regular lunchtime clubs and the teachers in charge of those activities may, at their discretion, allow them to attend the first sitting.

We are very proud of our food, our catering team and our dining facilities.

At Chailey School, we believe it is important for our students to have a nutritious hot or cold meal at lunchtimes that may be enjoyed in a relaxed, social atmosphere.  

We have recently made a number of enhancements to our facilities, including:

• A cashless catering system to both reduce queues and to remove the hygeine risks associated with catering staff handling money. Research also shows that students with a free school meal entitlement feel more comfortable purchasing from the canteen as they are indistinguishable from other students
• A bright and modern colour scheme, chosen by students on our Healthy Schools Committee
• Contemporary dining furniture, providing a cafe style environment more suitable for our secondary age group
• Carefully selected background music at lunchtimes to enhance the dining experience

A wide choice of meals are available, including vegetarian dishes.  A variety of healthy drink options are also provided and water is always available free from our water cooler.

This leaflet provides further information from our catering contractor, Chartwells. You will see in the leaflet that Chartwells extend an open invitation to parents to have lunch at the school in order to sample the food on offer for themselves. If you would like to take up this offer, please contact the school via email in order that we can make the necessary arrangements to accommodate interested parents alongside our hungry student community!