This term has seen us take the catering in-house and we are confident that this will bring improvements to the quality, service and prices for those students who eat at school.
The school was previously tied into a contract with Chartwells, a school catering company, and so the school had minimal influence over provision.
This new arrangements has already seen a wide range of improvements in the first four weeks of provision:
- Reduced prices on key items
- Improved quality of ingredients
- New items on the menu – taking on board student feedback; such as Nando’s style spicy chicken on Fridays.
- Breakfast opening between 8.00-8.35am
- After-school opening hours between 3.05-3.35pm
- Gluten-free items to care for students with particular dietary needs
- Extra seating
The extended opening hours are designed to support children rushing out of home in the morning who often do not have time to eat any breakfast – with all research showing that students who eat in the morning learn better in lessons. The after-school service is designed to help cater for students taking the buses home – whether it be a quick snack to keep them going until their dinner at home, or to keep them warm with a hot chocolate as the winter months draw in and the weather gets colder.
Wendy Bennett, School Business Manager, said: “Taking on the catering was a long objective as we were not happy with the quality or level of provision that the school was tied into. The catering is now for the school and the students, rather than an external company, and this can only be seen as a good thing.”
