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
INSET DAY
Oven Baked Sausages (1, 14)
or Vegetarian Oven Baked Sausages (1, 7, 8)
Creamy Tomato Penne Pasta (1, 9)
Filled Baked Jacket Potato
Sides – Homemade Potato Wedges, Baked Beans and Sweetcorn
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, 9)
Mexican Style Chicken with Rice and Nachos
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, 9)
Crispy Battered Cod Fillet (1, 4, 9, 11)
or Baked Sweet Potato and Bean Wrap (1, 9)
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 3rd September
Traditional Spaghetti Bolognaise served with Mixed Leaf Salad or
Whole Green Beans and Garlic and Herb Slice (1, 7, 8, 9, 10)
Tagliatelle with Vegetable Ragu served with Mixed Leaf Salad or
Whole Green Beans and Garlic and Herb Slice (1, 7, 8, 9, 10)
Apricot Sponge and Custard (1, 7, 9)
Tuesday 4th September
Chicken Jalfrezi with Fragrant Rice
served with Cauliflower Bhaiji (10, 11)
Mushroom and Potato Curry
served with Cauliflower Bhaiji (10)
Zesty Lemon Cheese Cake (1, 8, 9)
Wednesday 5th September
Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding served with
Roast Potatoes, Cabbage and Carrots (1, 7, 9)
Vegetable and Lentil Roast served with
Roast Potatoes, Cabbage and Carrots (1, 7, 10)
Oatie Apple Crumble and Custard (1, 9)
Thursday 6th September
Cajun Chicken and Salsa Dip served with
Oven Baked Wedges, Broccoli and Coleslaw (7, 9, 11)
Roasted Tomato and Basil Quiche
served with New Potatoes, Broccoli (1, 7, 9)
Carrot Cake with Orange Frosting (1, 7, 9)
Friday 7th September
Battered Cod and Chips, served with Garden Peas or Chefs Salad (1, 4)
Goats Cheese and Mediterranean Vegetable Bruschetta and Chips
served with Garden Peas or Chefs Salad (1, 8, 9)
Red Berry Eton Mess (1, 8, 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 (previously Beaverwood)
Clare House Primary School
Crofton Infant School
Crofton Junior School
Darrick Wood School
Dartford Grammar School
Dover Christchurch Academy
Dover Grammar School for Girls
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)
Valley Park School
Wallington High for Girls
Warren Road Primary School
Wilmington Grammar for Girls
EMPLOYMENT
FOLKESTONE – Secondary Assistant Cook/Chef – 07.00-15.00 – £17.5k
ORPINGTON/PETTS WOOD – Primary School Chef/Cook Manager – 07.00-15.00 – £17.5-20k
ROBERTSBRIDGE – Secondary School Catering Assistant – 07.00-14.30
SEVENOAKS – Secondary School Catering Assistant – 09.30-14.30
SOUTHBOROUGH – Primary School Catering Assistant – 11.00-14.30
TONBRIDGE/TUNBRIDGE WELLS AREA – Primary School Chef/Cook Managers – 07.00-15.00 – £17.5k
WEST WICKHAM – Secondary School Cook/Chef – 07.00-15.00 – £17.5k
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.
