Catering
Our school canteen is very popular and offers a wide range of fresh food and drinks for breakfast, at break time, for lunch and after school
Pupils and staff have the option of purchasing meals from our catering providers on site in our main restaurant or in our external catering pod, the Lunch Box.
Our menus and tariffs are available below.
To make it quick and easy for the students to pay for items, we have a till system which interfaces with our payment system, Wisepay, and so enables parents to allocate money to their child’s account and monitor expenditure.
In order to prevent any excessive expenditure, a limit of £7 per day has been put on all pupils’ accounts. However, if you would prefer a lower limit, this can be set for individual students.
Please see our Frequently Asked Questions below for more information about our biometric catering system and Wisepay payments. Any queries should be directed to the Finance Office (finance@bishophatfield.herts.sch.uk).
Should parents or pupils wish to discuss the caterer’s approach to allergies or require any further information, then please contact our Executive Chef directly on extension 205 or send an email to admin@bishophatfield.herts.sch.uk for their attention.
Cashless Catering Frequently Asked Questions
How do I set up an online payment account?
All pupils were sent information on the school’s online payment system, Wisepay, when they joined the school. This included information on setting up the account and how to use it. This online payment system allows you to pay for all activities such as school trips, music lessons and other events. If you did not receive or have lost your log in details, please contact the Finance Office finance@bishophatfield.herts.sch.uk
How will my daughter be enrolled on the system?
All new pupils are registered on their first day at school by the Finance Office and it is important for you to have returned the consent form (which was part of the admissions pack) prior to enrolment. If you strongly object to your daughter using her finger to access the system, we can allocate her a 4 digit pin number.
Will the system also be used by sixth formers?
The system is available for all pupils and staff, including sixth formers and visiting sixth form consortium students. However, sixth form students have the privilege of being able to pay with a card as well as having access to snacks at any time between break and lunch. The school is unable to accept cash payments for school meals.
What information is stored when the pupil’s finger is scanned?
When the finger is scanned, the system is detecting small differentiating features and converts them into a numeric code; it does not store an image of the fingerprint. As with a credit card, this code is then used to associate the user with their account; every time their finger is scanned, the system recognises the code generated and knows which account it relates to. The code is kept within the system but cannot be converted back into a fingerprint or used for anything other than identifying the student within the cashless catering system.
My child has Free School Meals, how do they get lunch?
The system knows which students qualify for a Free School Meal and their account is automatically loaded with their entitlement, in time for lunch each day. When they identify themselves at the till their balance shows this amount, plus any other credit you have loaded onto the account. Payment for their lunch is deducted from the Free School Lunch allowance. The account is refreshed every day; unspent balances cannot be rolled forward at the end of the day. Please note that pupils will need credit on their accounts in order to buy breakfast or break time snacks – please top up using Wisepay.
What happens if my daughter does not have enough money on her account to pay for her lunch?
She will still be able to get lunch. Pupils who do not have enough money to purchase lunch should come to the Finance Office where we can apply an ‘overdraft’ facility to her account for that day. We will email parents to advise them of this and the account must be brought back into credit before it can be used again, by topping up via WisePay or at the cash loader machine.
How will we know how much is left on my daughter’s cashless account?
The online payment system information updates to WisePay at the end of each day. Parents may then log in to the system to check their daughter’s balance and view a list of her purchases. Pupils also see their balance when they visit a till. Payments made via Wisepay are transferred into the Cashless Catering system every 15 minutes so you can top up during the morning and your daughter will have access to that money by lunch time.
How do I find out what my daughter has been buying on her account?
When parents log into Wisepay, they are able to view the last 25 items purchased by their daughter.
If I put enough money on my child’s account for a whole week, what’s to stop them spending it all at the beginning of the week?!
The system has a £7 daily spend limit. If you wish us to set a lower daily limit for your daughter, please contact the Finance Office.
How does the school encourage healthy eating?
We promote healthy eating with fruit, salad and vegetables available alongside freshly prepared main meals. Fizzy drinks, chocolate and sweets are not offered. All items are labelled clearly including those with reduced sugar recipes, where smaller portions are available and those which attract healthy eating points.
