Our Caterer
The school’s catering service is provided by Taylor Shaw, caterer of choice for thousands of secondary school students across the UK.
We believe lunch is an integral part of the school day. When students sit down with friends, they cement relationships, enhance social skills, and replenish both their body and mind.
Our menus are exciting, nutritious, and appealing, served in a supportive environment designed to educate students about how they can make healthy choices to support their wellbeing and improve their ability to focus.
Our freshly prepared menus meet the Government’s School Food Standards and meet the bronze Food for Life standards.
Students are permitted to bring their own packed lunch to school which must be eaten in the dining hall. Packed lunches should follow our Healthy Eating and Drinking Policy. Fizzy drinks are not permitted.
If you have any catering queries, please call the Finance Office on 0161 232 5522.
Primary Phase Only: If your child requires a medical diet due to a food allergy, food intolerance or a medical condition requiring an adapted menu (e.g. carbohydrate count for Type 1 Diabetes), please complete the online medical diet request via the Taylor Shaw online portal; LunchHound.
For further support, please refer to Taylor Shaw Parents and Carers User Guide. Kindly note, you do not need to make a request for dietary preferences or for the following diets: vegan, pescatarian, vegetarian or halal, as these requirements can be met through our standard menus.
Cashless Catering
WHGS offers a biometric cashless catering system, using finger scan identification to prevent fraudulent use*. The finger scan uses a pattern of 8 points and a complete fingerprint cannot be reconstructed from this data. The scan is encrypted in a unique format so that it is not compatible with any other system. The data is kept on a secure server which is not accessible from outside the school. All data will be used internally only and will not be available to any external agency. Data is used and recorded in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 (GDPR). In the future the same system may also be extended to other uses such as the control of library books and electronic registration.
We need your specific consent for your child(ren)’s biometric data to be used. You will be asked to complete the consent form when your child joins the school.
* Children in Nursery do not use the finger scan but have meals recorded manually. Printed statements are available from the Finance Office on request. All other pupils, including those entitled to free school meals, will operate the system by using their finger.
Catering accounts must be in credit at all times in order to purchase food and/or drinks in the dining hall, as cash payments are not accepted.
If you wish to restrict the daily spend, please advise the Finance Office.
| Prices |
| Main Meal Deal - includes up to 3 items |
£2.40 |
| Mini Meal Deal - includes 2 items |
£1.75 |
Drinks: various cartons and bottled drinks available to purchase (drinking water always available).
Food also available for purchase between 8.00am - 8.25am and during mid-morning break (Main School only).
Free School Meals
If you have a child or children who you think are entitled to FSM please use the following link to make an online claim:
Your Application for Free School Meals
Your application will be checked by the National Eligibility Checking Systems (ECS) which will confirm whether or not your child(ren) will be eligible for FSM within 42 days.
When completing your application please enter an email address or mobile/telephone contact details so that any queries can be sent to you directly.
The FSM eligibility will start from the date you and the school are notified by the ECS. Until that then you will need to provide your child(ren) with a packed lunch or put funds on your child’s(ren’s) catering accounts.
FSM can only be used for purchase of food at lunchtimes – not drinks unless part of a meal deal.
If your child(ren) are in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2, you do not have to apply for FSM as your child(ren) is (are) entitled to UIFSM. However, if you register for FSM now, the school will get valuable extra funding to enable us to provide enhanced services such as extra tuition, additional pastoral support and subsidised extra-curricular activities.
If you have a child or children who you think are entitled to FSM please use the link to make an online claim.
When completing your application please enter an email address or telephone contact details so that any queries can be sent to you directly.
Please note that children in the nursery class are unlikely to be entitled to FSM.
Breakfast Bagels
Every morning in the Secondary Phase, students are welcome to enjoy a bagel for breakfast, free of charge. Many students take up the offer and enjoy the warm bagel, ensuring that they have the fuel necessary for learning!
Our bagels are provided through Magic Breakfast and are an excellent source of energy to start the day with. Eating breakfast is essential to being ready to learn so we encourage everyone to eat breakfast either at home or by taking advantage of our free breakfast bagels.