Lunchtime Arrangements

At Golborne High School we operate an in-house catering service for pupils, staff and visitors. In addition to our lunchtime canteen service, we provide a breakfast and morning break service each day.

Facilities are available at lunchtime for pupils to have a school dinner or a packed lunch. 

Pupils are not allowed to leave school at lunchtime.

Online Payments and Cashless Catering

We operate a cashless canteen system. This means no money passes through the tills.

Pupils can add money to their account in two ways:

1.  Using secure cash payment machines located around the school.
2.  Using the online payment system – whereby parents add money over the internet to their child’s school food account.

Both systems are safe and secure and significantly cut queueing times in the canteen.

There are many benefits to a cashless system including:

• Pupils are not carrying cash around all day and the potential for loss is reduced.
• There is a maximum daily spend limit on each child’s account (currently £4.50) to ensure that they only spend an appropriate amount each day.
• It provides a considerably quicker service and reduces queues.
• If you are entitled to free school meals (FSM) no one is aware of this (the FSM daily allowance is automatically added to the pupil’s account).
• The system uses biometrics.  The system involves the capture of Biometric fingerprint data that is securely stored by the school.  A scanner is used on the cash payment machines and also at the cash registers to recognise the pupil’s account. This data is destroyed when your child leaves the school or when you instruct us to do so.

The online payment system is operated through Wisepay. Under this system, a separate username (child’s name) and password is allocated for each child in school.  If you have more than one child in school you can link your accounts in the system and also change your password and username. 

You can access WisePay to make online payments by debit or credit card. The system will be updated approximately every 15 minutes to show new payments. Your online account also has the benefit of allowing you to view the account balance and the selection and cost of food and drink purchased each day. 

Wisepay

School meals cash payment machines are available in school for parents not wishing to make payments online.

Free School Meals

Did you know … just registering your child for Free School Meals means that the school gets extra money?

Register now to make sure you don’t miss out!

The Government is giving money to schools to help children from lower-income families do their very best. This funding is called a ‘Pupil Premium’.

For every child registered Golborne High School gets £985 this year.

The more parents that take up their entitlement to free meals for their children, the more funds we will get to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds. With this money, we could pay for extra classes for groups of pupils or purchase more resources to help teach our pupils.

Please register as soon as possible to make sure your child and others in their class don’t miss out.

How does it work?

First, check if you qualify – it is not just if you are unemployed, so please look at the list below.

Registering is really quick and easy – if you think you qualify, contact the Benefits office at Wigan Council who will help you to register or do it online.

Contact the Benefits office at Wigan Council

If you want your child to have a free, healthy meal at lunchtime that’s great – they will get the free meal (saving you more than £400 a year), extra benefits and the school gets £985 extra. Your child will have a daily allowance of £2.30 added to their food account automatically.

If you don’t want your child to have the school meals they can continue as normal – as long as you qualify and are registered, the school still gets £985 extra.

What happens after I register?

Your child will receive £2.30 per day for lunch.

We operate a cashless catering system so other pupils do not identify pupils that receive a free school meal. Your child can also add money to their account to make purchases from the canteen before school or during morning break time.

Do you qualify?

Your child may be entitled to receive free school meals if you receive any of the following:

• Income Support
• Income-Based Jobseekers Allowance
• Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• Child Tax Credit (provided you are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190, as assessed by the Inland Revenue)
• The Guaranteed element of state pension credit
• Working Tax Credit run-on (paid 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)
• Universal Credit

Register online

Register through telephone