Free meals for nursery age children - draft 2025

A detailed menu is available for download. This includes full information about the menu ingredients.

Download primary school and nursery detailed lunch menu

All children who take part in a funded nursery session are entitled to a free meal.

This includes:

eligible 2 year olds
all children aged 3 or 4

The maximum amount of funded childcare available is 1,140 hours per year. You can read about this limit and eligibility for funded childcare on our childcare for children aged 2 to 4 page.

Free meals are available all year round, except when nurseries are closed due to holidays.

If your child attends during the morning or stays all day, they will be offered a free lunch. If your child attends during afternoons only, they will not get a free lunch, but will be offered a substantial snack.

(V) means the menu item is vegetarian
(VE) means the menu item is vegan

Week 1

This menu will be available during the week beginning:

11 August
1 September
22 September
13 October
3 November
24 November
15 December
5 January
26 January
16 February
9 March
30 March
20 April
11 May
1 June
22 June
13 July
3 August

Daily menu
	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Soup	Tomato (VE)	Lentil (VE)	Chicked noodle or Lentil (VE)	Cheese and Biscuits (V) or Lentil (VE)	Lentil (VE)
Red tray (Includes soup or dessert, fruit and salad bar)	Cheese and Tomato Pizza (V) Chips Seasonal Salad	Chicken Fajitas or Quorn Fajitas (VE) Spicy Wedges	Macaroni Cheese (V) Peas and Sweetcorn	Tomato Pasta (V) Seasonal Salad	Breaded Fish or Quorn Dippers (VE) Ovenbaked Potato Wedges Peas
Green tray 1 (Includes soup and dessert, fruit and salad bar)	Cheese Wrap (V)	Ham Roll	Jacket Potato Baked Beans (VE)	Beef Burger Roll and Ketchup	Chicken Sandwich
Green snack tray 2 (Includes soup and dessert, fruit and salad bar)	Egg Wrap (V)	Cheese Roll (V)	Jacket Potato Cheese (V) Seasonal Salad	Quorn Burger Roll and Ketchup (V)	Cheese Sandwich (V)
Dessert	Fruit	Fruit and Iced Biscuit	Fruit	Fruit and Natural Yoghurt	Fruit

Salad Bar

A selection of salad bar items will be available daily. Bread, milk and water will also be available.

Week 2

This menu will be available during the week beginning:

18 August
8 September
29 September
20 October
10 November
1 December
22 December
12 January
2 February
23 February
16 March
6 April
27 April
18 May
8 June
29 June
20 July

Daily menu
	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Soup	Lentil (VE)	Tomato (VE)	Cheese and Biscuits (V) or Lentil Soup (VE)	Carrot and Sweet Potato (VE)	Lentil (VE)
Red tray (Includes soup or dessert, fruit and salad bar)	Tomato Pasta (V) Cheesy Bread Sweetcorn	Chinese Chicken Rice or Chinese Quorn Rice (VE) Homemade Curry Sauce (VE) Seasonal Vegetables	Spaghetti Bolognese or Spaghetti and Tomato Sauce (V) Garlic Bread Seasonal Salad	Salmon Fish Fingers or Dippers (VE) Mashed Potato Baked Beans	Macaroni Cheese (V) Peas, Broccoli and Sweetcorn Mix
Green tray 1 (Includes soup and dessert, fruit and salad bar)	Jacket Potato Baked Beans (VE)	Sausage Roll Spaghetti Hoops	Toasted Tuna Bagel	Sweet Chilli Chicken Panini	Chicken Burger Roll and Ketchup
Green tray 2 (Includes soup and dessert, fruit and salad bar)	Jacket Potato Cheese (V) Sweetcorn	Quorn Sausage Roll (VE) Spaghetti Hoops	Toasted Cheese Bagel (V)	Cheese Panini (V)	Quorn Burger Roll and Ketchup (V)
Dessert	Fruit and Natural Yoghurt	Fruit and Jelly	Fruit	Fruit and Chocolate Muffin	Fruit

Salad Bar

A selection of salad bar items will be available daily. Bread, milk and water will also be available.

Week 3

This menu will be available during the week beginning:

25 August
15 September
6 October
27 October
17 November
8 December
29 December
19 January
9 February
2 March
23 March
13 April
4 May
25 May
15 June
6 July
27 July

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Soup	Carrot and Sweet Potato (VE)	Lentil (VE)	Cheese and Biscuits (V) or Lentil Soup (VE)	Lentil (VE)	Tomato (VE)
Red tray (Includes soup or dessert, fruit and salad bar)	Pizza and Pasta Combo (V) Seasonal Salad	Chicken Goujons or Dippers (VE) Ovenbaked Fries Peas and Sweetcorn	Chicken Korma or Quorn Korma (V) Rice Seasonal Vegetables	Steak Pie or Sliced Quorn Fillet (VE) and Gravy (VE) Potatoes Seasonal Vegetables	Cheese Panini (V) Ovenbaked Potato Wedges Seasonal Salad and Salsa or Baked Beans
Green tray 1 (Includes soup and dessert, fruit and salad bar)	Ovenbaked Potato Wedges and Cheesy Beans (V)		Tuna Sandwich	Chicken Roll	Ham sandwich
Green tray 2 (Includes soup and dessert, fruit and salad bar)	Egg Sandwich (V)	Veggiedog and Ketchup (VE)	Cheese Toastie and Baked Beans (V)	Cheese Roll (V)	Cheese Sandwich (V)
Dessert	Fruit and Yoghurt	Fruit and Cupcake	Fruit	Fruit and Cookie	Fruit

Salad Bar

A selection of salad bar items will be available daily. Bread, milk and water will also be available.

Nursery Schools