Summer Term Lunch

As we enter the Summer Term we will be looking forward to enjoying the warm and pleasant weather as much as possible.

In line with this, we are launching a new Summer Term lunch menu which allows for a scheduled Tuesday and Thursday Alfresco dining experience. Over the Easter break, we have enjoyed buying lots of lovely picnic mats and sun umbrellas (for the wonderful picnic benches the PTFA purchased for us) ready for the children to be able to eat outside picnic-style.

The best bit about eating outside is that there are no space constraints, so on Tuesday and Thursday, our children will be able to all eat together as a whole school. We are really excited about this.

What will happen on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday?

On Monday and Wednesday, we will continue to eat our lunch in the hall (but may adapt our menu further after May Half Term to allow even more picnic-style Al Fresco dining.)

We are keen to keep our children dining in cross-phase (mixed-age) groupings. This has had really positive implications for speech and language development and has also enabled our older children to take on many leadership responsibilities.  Tables will be laid out to allow children to sit with children from their own class or with children from the other classes in their sitting as they choose.

Therefore, on a Monday and a Wednesday we will go to lunch in cross-phase sittings:

On Monday (and Tuesday if it rains) :

• Rainbow Class, Red Class, Purple Class, and Yellow Class will go to lunch together in sitting 1
• Blue Class, Green Class, and Orange Class will go to lunch together in sitting 2

On Wednesday (and Thursday if it rains) :

• Blue Class, Green Class, and Orange Class will go to lunch together in sitting 1
• Rainbow Class, Red Class, Purple Class, and Yellow Class will go to lunch together in sitting 2

We will also use these arrangements on Tuesday and Thursday if rain prevents our outdoor experience.

What about Friday?

We have really loved seeing the children playing with and getting to know all of the other children in their houses at lunchtime this term. Whilst we acknowledge that this has been tricky for some children, we saw lots of positive interactions and learning benefits across the school.

Our houses are a really special part of Offham and we want to keep promoting these, therefore we are going to make Friday ‘House Lunch Friday’.