INDEPENDENT CATERING
FRESH INGREDIENTS FRESH FOOD
ABOUT US
The lack of quality in school food has been highlighted in recent years but we have always served fresh food since we started the business over 20 years ago.
For more than 20 years Independent Catering has been at the forefront of providing fresh food to Schools and Colleges.
In 1996 Andrew Saunders founded the company with a vision of creating a service based on fresh, locally sourced ingredients. The company still led by Andrew, with a team of passionate skilled chefs, now provides a service to over 60 schools in Kent, Surrey and Sussex.
We are justifiably proud to have been credited by the Soil Association for food standards, and awarded their Food for Life accreditation at all our schools, which underpins our commitment to fresh, seasonal and locally grown ingredients. Our commitment to using the best food that Kent and the UK can offer lies at the heart of our approach and always has done!
Our core values ensure our customers (pupils and school staff) receive healthy balanced, and innovative menus served with a smile by our wonderful dedicated team of catering staff.
Our approach is simple! Great food prepared on site and fantastic value for money for parents.
The long term partnerships we have with our schools are testimony to our food and service ethos.
CURRENT MENUS
Made in your school kitchen! We prepare and cook all our menu items, so if you need to know the ingredients – please ask.
LOCAL and FRESH – Our daily main meals, soups, salads and cold food are made FRESH every day with local (Kent) seasonal produce.
PLEASE NOTE: OUR DAILY MENUS CAN BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
ALLERGEN KEY
1 Cereals Containing Gluten 2 Crustaceans 3 Molluscs 4 Fish 5 Peanuts 6 Nuts 7 Eggs
8 Soybeans 9 Milk 10 Celery 11 Mustard 12 Lupin 13 Sesame 14 Sulphur Dioxide
No Nuts or Nut Oils are used in Independent Catering Primary and Secondary School Meals. Click Here to download our Food Provenance document.
IF YOU HAVE ANY ALLERGEN CONCERNS PLEASE SPEAK TO THE CATERING MANAGER
PRIMARY SCHOOLS
Spaghetti Bolognaise with Herby Bread (1, 7, 8, 9)
or Roasted Jerk Vegetables and Rice
Pesto Pasta Shells (1, 9)
Filled Baked Jacket Potato
Sides – Broccoli and Sweetcorn
Dessert – Fruit Sponge and Custard (1, 7, 8, 9)
Sweet and Sour Tukey with Rice (1)
or Winter Vegetable Shepherds Pie
Chunky Tomato Pasta (1)
Filled Baked Jacket Potato
Sides – Roasted Butternut Squash and Green Beans
Dessert – TUTTI FRUTTI TUESDAY
Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding (1, 7, 9)
or Cherry Tomato and Cheese Flan (1, 7, 9)
Red Pepper Spiral Pasta (1)
Filled Baked Jacket Potato
Sides – Roast Potatoes, Fresh Carrots and Green Beans
Dessert – Apple Pie and Custard (1, 7, 8, 9)
Mexican Style Chicken with Homemade Herby Potatoes
or Sweet and Sour Vegetable Stir Fry with Noodles (1, 7)
Mac ‘n’ Cheese (1, 9)
Filled Baked Jacket Potato
Sides – Fresh Broccoli and Selection of Mexican Salad
Dessert – Syrup Sponge and Custard (1, 7, 8, 9)
Crispy Battered Cod Fillet (1, 4, 9)
or Baked Sweet Potato and Bean Wrap (1)
Arrabiata Pasta (1)
Filled Baked Jacket Potato
Sides – Chips, Peas and Tomato Salsa
Dessert – Strawberry Muffin (1, 7)
Available Every Day
Self Help Salad Bar with Crunchy Raw Vegetables
Fresh Baked Bread (1) – Drinking Water – Jacket Toppings (4, 7, 9)
SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Monday 17th December
Bangers and Mash served with Cabbage and Garden Peas (1, 8, 9)
Chunky Vegetable Chilli served with Rice and Sour Cream (9, 10)
Pear Sponge and Vanilla Sauce (1, 7, 9)
Tuesday 18th December
Tandoori Chicken and Pilau Rice served with
Mint Yoghurt and Bombay Potatoes (9, 10)
Creamy Chickpea and Vegetable Curry and Pilau Rice served with
Bombay Potatoes (8, 9, 10)
Autumn Berry Fool and Oatie Biscuit (1, 8, 9)
Wednesday 19th December
Roast Gammon and Onion Sauce served with
Roast Potatoes, Broccoli and Roasted Root Vegetables (1, 9)
Mushroom and Spinach Wellington served with
Roast Potatoes, Broccoli and Roasted Root Vegetables (1, 7, 9)
Chocolate and Banana Cake and Chocolate Sauce (1, 7, 9)
Thursday 20th December
Beef and Vegetable Pie served with
Creamed Potatoes, Cabbage and Sweetcorn (1, 7, 10)
Quorn Shepherdess Pie served with Savoy Cabbage and Cauliflower (7, 9, 10)
Creamy Rice Pudding with a Peach Melba Compot (8, 9)
Friday 21st December
Breaded Fish and Chips served with Chef’s Salad and Peas (1, 4, 11)
Bean Enchiladas served with Chef’s Salad (1, 10)
Crème Caramel and Fruit Salad (1, 7, 9)
Available Daily
Fresh Chef’s Salad • Whole Grain Bread • Self Help Salad Bar
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD OUR CURRENT PRIMARY MENU
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD OUR CURRENT SECONDARY MENU
PAY ONLINE
Welcome to the Independent Catering’s school meals online payment website. You can make payments for your child’s school meals using your debit card for free or credit card for a small charge.
Please register with SQuid by clicking on your son/daughters School, having received your 16 DIGIT REGISTRATION and 3 DIGIT CVV CODE.
If you do not have your son/daughters REGISTRATION number please email us at info@independentcatering.co.uk stating your son/daughters School Name/Class/Year.
Once you have registered with Squid you can continue to make further payments throughout the school term, also view credit balance and see items purchased.
Top Tip: When you register, use your child’s name as the user name.
This makes it much easier if you have two children at school.
USING SQUID – FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
HOW DO I GET A REFUND IF MY CHILD LEAVES OR MOVES SCHOOL?
Refunds are administered by Squid directly and not Independent Catering. For a full refund please log into your squid account in the usual way by clicking on your school from the list opposite (please remember to be logged into the squid account that you want a refund for just in case you have more than one account). Click on the Contact Us link in the squid website to reveal an email message box and request a full refund and closure of the account.
IF I HAVE MORE THAN ONE CHILD AT A SCHOOL USING SQUID DO I NEED TO REGISTER ALL CHILDREN OR JUST ONE?
Yes. Currently you will need to register each child even if they are in the same school. i.e. if you have three children all at schools who have squid as the online payment option you will have three letters informing you of three different registration numbers and you must set up all three squid accounts. (SEE ALSO QUESTION BELOW ABOUT PAYING WITH SQUID). Squid are currently working on a program to change this but it is not available yet.
IF I HAVE SET UP A SQUID ACCOUNT FOR EACH OF MY CHILDREN DO I HAVE TO SIGN INTO EACH ACCOUNT TO TOP UP THE BALANCE FOR EACH CHILD?
No. You can log in to one of the squid accounts (remember which one you are in) and top up the balance. Then select the friends & family option and type in the purse number for your other child (this is not the 16 digit registration number – it is a longer purse number allocated to each registered account) and top up the balance for that account and repeat this for each account you want to add funds to.
IS THERE A CHARGE FOR ME TO USE SQUID?
No if you use a Debit Card or Bank Transfer (bank transfers can take up to three days to show on the account). There is now a 2% charge for using a credit card.
DO I GET EMAIL CONFIRMATION OF EACH TOP UP?
Yes, if you pay by credit card.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO APPLY THE TOP UP TO THE ACCOUNT AT MY CHILD’S SCHOOL?
Credit Card and Debit Card Top Up’s are applied in approximately 15 minutes. Bank Transfers take up to three banking days to show on the account.
IF MY CHILD MOVED FROM ONE SQUID SCHOOL TO A DIFFERENT SQUID SCHOOL DOES THEIR SQUID ACCOUNT TRAVEL WITH THEM?
No. Currently you will have to register your child at the new school with a new squid 16 digit registration number and 3 digit CVV code which we can provide to you. You will need to contact us at Head office on 01732 746123 or info@independentcatering.co.uk and we will transfer any balance for you.
HOW DO I SET UP MY SQUID ACCOUNT?
If you only have one child at a squid school you can use your (parents) details for both setting up the account information such as name, user name and passwords and your preferred user name. However if you have more than one child and are setting up multiple squid accounts you can use your name, address, email and passwords as above but the user name must be different for each account. As a suggestion you could chose your child’s name as the user name as a method to help you identify which account you are signing into but repeat all the other information in an attempt to have less to remember.
To REGISTER FOR PAYMENTS, CHECK BALANCES or TOP UP at the following schools, please click on your child’s school below
Astor College for the Arts
Barton Court Grammar School
Beths Grammar School
Borden Grammar School
Brockhill Park Performing Arts College
Charles Darwin School
Charles Dickens School
Chislehurst School for Girls
Clare House Primary School
Crofton Infant School
Crofton Junior School
Darrick Wood School
Dartford Grammar School
Dover Christchurch Academy
Dover Grammar School for Girls
Fleetdown Primary School
Folkestone School for Girls (The)
Godinton Primary School
Hartsdown Academy
Invicta Grammar School
Judd School (The)
Knole Academy (The)
Langley Park School for Boys
Langley Park School for Girls
Lenham School (The)
Maidstone Grammar School
Manor Community Primary School
Newstead Wood School
Nonsuch High School for Girls
Oak Lodge Primary School
Oakwood Park Grammar (Maidstone)
Oakwood School (Horley)
Robertsbridge Community College
Roseacre Junior School
Skinners’ School (The)
Southborough Primary School
St Augustine Academy
St John’s C.E Primary School
St Olave’s Grammar School
St Matthew’s High Brooms C of E Primary School
Thomas Aveling School (The)
Towers School (The)
Trinity School (Sevenoaks)
Valley Park School
Wallington High for Girls
Warren Road Primary School
Wilmington Grammar for Girls
EMPLOYMENT
HEADCORN – Primary School Catering Assistant – 11.00 – 14.00
ORPINGTON – Primary School Catering Assistant – 10.00 – 17.15
RIVERHEAD/SEVENOAKS – Primary School Catering Assistant – 09.00 – 14.30
SEVENOAKS – Secondary School Chef/Cook Manager – 07.00 – 15.00 £25k
SEVENOAKS – Secondary School Catering Assistant – 09.30 – 14.30
SOUTHBOROUGH – Primary School Catering Assistant – 11.00 – 14.30
TONBRIDGE – Secondary School Chef/Baker – 07.30 – 15.00 – £15k
TONBRIDGE – Secondary School Catering Assistant – 09.30 – 14.30
TUNBRIDGE WELLS – Kitchen Porter – 10.00-14.30
WEST WICKHAM – Secondary School Catering Assistant – 09.30 – 14.30
You can either apply online by clicking here or you can download our printable application form here (Adobe Acrobat PDF) and once completed, post or fax it to us at:
Independent Catering Management Limited
125A St. Johns Hill
Sevenoaks
Kent TN13 3PE
Telephone: 01732 746123
Facsimile: 01732 746120
If you do not hear from us within 14-21 days please assume that your application has been unsuccessful or the position has been filled. Application forms are not always kept, so please apply again in future should another school catering position be advertised.
