Menu & Catering

The inhouse Catering Team at Parkwood Hall School has long recognised the importance of a healthy diet for all students – especially those with special educational needs.

Here at Parkwood Hall we recognise the importance of a healthy and well-balanced diet for all our students.  With an inhouse catering team and inhouse therapy team we are proud to have the ability to custom tailer menus to the student needs. 

The catering team works hard to ensure that meals are balanced and interesting, supporting those students with more restrictive diets to experiment and try, in a supported way, more textures and flavours. The menu runs on a three-week cycle throughout which there is a mix of modern day family favourites, alongside a variety of dishes from around the world.  This gives our students a sense of familiarity but also educates them on where the food is from, respecting religious and dietary requirements and preferences.  We work to make dining together a daily experience which is as inclusive as possible. 

Meal times are a very important aspect of social communication and interaction, and the dining room is carefully organised to facilitate this. Supervision levels in the dining room are high, with enhanced support available to those students who need it. Staff routinely eat alongside pupils, promoting a “family dining” experience at lunchtime.

The cost of meals is included in the fees recouped from local authorities. We do not allow day students to bring in packed lunches due to allergies and the safety of others. We request that parents of students with specific dietary requirements submit this information in advance in their pre-admission paperwork, and any dietary changes be sent to the school via email to office@parkwoodhall.co.uk.  This will ensure our records are kept up to date.

Please note we are a nut avoidance school, therefore no nuts, peanuts or tree nuts are permitted in to the school and we ask parents and carers to support us with this. 

People who suffer from nut allergies can develop a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction.

If someone has a nut allergy it is not just eating nuts that can cause a severe reaction, just being touched on the skin or smelling the breath of someone who has had nuts or a product containing nuts can trigger an allergic reaction which can cause breathing and swallowing difficulties.  Nursing and first aid staff in the school are trained to use Epi-pens (an injection of adrenaline) which are required immediately if this happens.

All members of our catering team are trained in health & safety, food hygiene and allergen awareness.

The catering team sources the vast majority of our ingredients from three main suppliers:

  • TH Brown is a local wholesaler, supplying the school with fresh fruit and vegetables.
  • Whitegate Farm is a local butcher, based in Orpington., supplying meat to the school.
  • Brakes is a well-known, national company which supplies the school with ambient products.

In addition to statutory inspections, the school regularly engages a specialist consultant to ensure our catering provision remains fully compliant and of the highest quality.

The school is proud to have 5* score on doors rating.

For a special occasion you can provide a shop-bought cake for the student to bring in to school.  The cake must be in its original packaging which can state “May contain nuts” but not anything that definitely contains nuts.  Home-made products are not allowed to be brought in to school.

Please see below for the the Spring term menu:

Spring-Menu-2026