Primary schools in Shetland are moving to a paperless online system for parents to pre-order school meals for their children, using their ParentPay account.
Since its introduction in Shetland a few years ago, ParentPay is now well established in local schools, offering cashless and online payments for pupils’ school meals. This is now being extended to allow parents and carers to pre-order meals on a weekly basis, which will replace the current system of opting in or out of school meals each term.
The paperless menu ordering system is now in place at Cunningsburgh and Tingwall Primary Schools. After the October break, it will also launch at Lunnasting, Nesting and Urafirth Primary Schools, with other schools to follow in the coming months. Parents and carers will receive details directly from their school on the local arrangements and full details of how the system will be used.
Free school meals are currently provided to all pupils in Early Years settings and from P1 to P5, with support from the Scottish Government. Parents of pupils who pay for their meals in P6 and P7 will be asked to make payment for meals at the time of booking, through their ParentPay account.
Most Shetland schools offer a fixed menu, with a varied selection of meals published each term. The menu ordering system will allow parents to place school meal bookings up to midnight on Sunday evening for the week after next, and for up to nine weeks in advance.
School catering staff can then plan ahead more efficiently to order ingredients knowing the numbers of meals expected, and be fully aware of any pupils’ allergies or specfic dietary needs.
Catering staff in Shetland’s schools provide on average 2300 meals per day across Shetland, at primary, secondary and early years settings, all prepared in line with national food regulations for schools.
Neil Beattie, Team Leader – Catering and Cleaning, said “We’re pleased to introduce this new paperless menu ordering system which will offer parents and carers more flexibility over their child’s school meals. As with any new system, there may be some initial teething problems and we’d urge any parents to have any questions to discuss this with their school.”