School meals
Introduction
Special diets are provided for by ensuring that a child will not be exposed to ingredients unsuited to them. Special diets are available for a child for medical reasons and usually require a doctor's statement.
Menus
Schools whose meal services are provided by Vantti: Askisto, Havukoski, Hiekkaharju, Hämeenkylä, Ilola, Itä-Hakkila, Jokiniemi, Jokiranta, Jokivarsi, Kaivoksela, Kannisto, Keimolanmäki, Kivimäki, Korso, Kulomäki, Kytöpuisto, Lehtikuusi, Leppäkorpi, Länsimäki, Martinlaakso, Mikkola, Nikinmäki, Pähkinärinne, Päiväkumpu, Rajakylä, Rajatorppa, Rekola, Rekolanmäki, Ruusuvuori, Seutula, Simonkallion, Simonkylän, Uomarinne, Viertola, Vierumäki, Ylästö
Schools whose meal services are provided by Palmia: Aurinkokivi, Kartanonkoski, Kuusikko, Veromäki, International school of Vantaa.
Special diets
The kitchens prepare special diets for school children and students needing them. As a guardian, you need to deliver a signed notification of the school student’s need for a special diet and other potential dietary restrictions to the public health nurse at the school, using a form intended for this purpose. The school nurse will inform the kitchen. If the special diet is necessary for medical reasons, a valid doctor’s statement must be attached to the form. The doctor’s statement must be renewed every year so that we can be certain that the special diet is still suitable and also to make sure that there are no unnecessary diet restrictions imposed on the child.
Lactose-free milk beverage is available to anyone needing it, but this also requires a special diet notification.
A notification form for a special diet and the related instructions are available below. The form can also be requested from the school’s public health nurse when necessary.
Vegan diet can be reported with a pupil and student information notification distributed at schools and educational institutes.
Notification of special diet Schools and educational institutions (523098e)(pdf, 158.8 KB)
What does a school lunch include?
We plan our menus based on the national nutrition guidelines. We apply rotating six-week menus in our schools. When planning our menus, we pay attention to seasonal ingredients, national holidays and other celebrations. We use ‘food teams’ to review the students’ favourite foods at regular basis and we take the students’ requests into account whenever possible. We also consider the results from our customer satisfaction surveys when planning the menus.
Environmental responsibility of school meals and participation
The food lines in the canteen have a ‘Hiilidiili’ label. This label signifies the streamlined carbon footprint of the main course, which is 30% smaller than that of an average dish. The purpose of the label is to highlight the environmental effects of meals and to guide the students to make choices that are better for the earth.
The purpose of the dining participation service packages is to introduce food and the operation of food services to children and young people. Schools can choose and order one of the following service packages organized by the catering service provider during the school year: