School Meals

About Our Café

From September 2026, Culinera will become our catering provider.

Culinera is an independently owned and operated catering company, established with the aim of bringing about a new era in school food. Culinera create school restaurants, not canteens, and offer a bespoke service to Brooklands Academy.

Opening Times

Years 7, 9 and 11

07:45 – 08:20   Breakfast Club

11.00 - 11.25   Break

12.25 - 13.00   Lunch

Years 8, 10 and Post 16

07:45- 08.20   Breakfast Club

11.00 - 11.25    Break

13.25 - 14.00   Lunch

Café Calendar, Tariff and Posters

For details about this term's menu, special events and more, please see the Brooklands Academy page on Culinera's website.

Application for Free School Meals

Parents who receive certain benefits may be eligible for free school meals.  We want to make sure as many eligible students as possible are claiming their free school meals.

Further guidance can be found by clicking:  Free school meals: guidance for local authorities, local -authority-maintained schools, academies and free schools - GOV.UK

To receive free school meals, a claim must be made by the student, their parent or another responsible adult.

To make a claim please complete the form by clicking on the following link:  https://fsm.lgfl.net

Cashless School Meals System

Brooklands Academy are moving to a system that uses biometric identification for our catering service. From September, this system will continue to support our cashless catering arrangements and provide an efficient, secure experience for all students.

The biometric system offers several benefits, including:

Improved security — safer handling of transactions within school
Reduced administration — no lost or forgotten cards, passwords, or PINs
Lower risk of bullying — nothing can be stolen or used by another student
No need for cards — students simply use their biometric ID
Faster queues — quicker service at the tills

We want to reassure you that 5 Dimensions Trust fully complies with the Data Protection Act and the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, which sets out strict requirements for the use of biometric data in schools. The system does not store an image of your child’s fingerprint. Instead, it converts key points of the fingerprint into a secure, encrypted numerical template. This template cannot be used to recreate the original fingerprint and is used only to identify your child at the catering tills. For your child to use the biometric system, one parent or guardian must provide consent via Arbor.

Students without consent will still be able to access school meals using an alternative identification method.

What To Do if Your Child Has No Money on Their Card

If a student has no money in their cashless catering account, a meal will be provided that day on production of a blue temporary catering card. Students need to request temporary cards from Student Services at break time in order to obtain a meal at lunchtime.

An email will be sent home to their parents to inform them that a meal has been provided for their child. The value of the meal plus any money required for subsequent days must be paid by the next day as it will not be possible to issue further temporary cards until the account is back in credit.