School meal price increase.
Ref:-Nov22schoolmealincrease
Dear Parents
School Meal Price Increase
Unfortunately, City Catering have informed us that they are increasing the price of school meals from 1st December 2022. Usually, price changes take place at the beginning of a school year, but unfortunately, they have no alternative but to implement them now. The extracts below are from their letter to us.
“The last two years have brought many unpredicted and well-publicised disruptions which continue to have a profound impact on British society. At City Catering, we have addressed all the challenges encountered, and in conjunction with your kitchen teams have flexibly adapted and developed our operations, menu content, processes and procedures. However, there are also many factors beyond our control which affect food production and manufacturing, that have resulted in substantial price rises on base ingredients across all categories.
This volatility within commodity prices has many causes including, but not limited to, an explosion in energy expenditure (business energy costs not being capped), transport costs, shipping, and of course, the rising costs of labour. The invasion of Ukraine has also generated considerable consequential impact on food supplies, which has added to the inflation we are currently experiencing.
Due to all of these circumstances, our suppliers have been forced to impose “Force Majeure” price rises as the costs they have had to endure are outside of their reasonable control (as they are generated by war (Ukraine) and disease (Covid), and multiple other factors).
Whilst we endeavour to economise in all areas, our prices have to reflect the pressures imposed on us by these extraordinary factors so that we can provide the required level of amenity, maintain legal compliance and ensure the sustainability and continuity of the service.”
As a result, the cost of school meals for children in Y3 – Y6 will increase from £2.60 to £2.80. This means a weekly charge of £14 from next week (w/c 5th December). Your SchoolMoney account will be adjusted to reflect the price increase.
The charge for Nursery meals will remain at £2.10 (£11 per week) and there will be no change to Universal Infant Free School Meals for children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.
Please be reassured that, we will continue to assess the meals to ensure that their quality is maintained.
We apologise for this increase, and would like to remind you that it may be worth making an application for Free School Meals. Application forms are available from the school office. Thank you
Yours faithfully
Mrs J O’Rourke
Head of Business, Finance and Operations.