Catering Services

School Meals

Feeding our future

A message from Maureen Lowes, Catering Services Manager.

I would like to outline to you what Catering Services have been doing, what we are doing and what we will be doing in the future to ensure that the children of our borough receive a fair meal deal.

There has been much publicity recently about school meals. I would like to take this opportunity to answer questions, which as a parent myself, I believe need to be addressed.

I am sure you will appreciate that the price spent per meal is dictated by Central and Local Government.

Here in Catering Services we try to create an interesting and nutritious meal within the price constraints.

However, our spend per meal is well above the national average.

I can assure you that Catering Services always put the welfare of children first. All our staff are fully trained and qualified.

We operate an ongoing training programme, including the help of a qualified nutritionist.

Since I joined Catering Services in March 2002 we have:

Continued to work in partnership with Head Teachers of secondary schools
Created a healthy eating charter for secondary schools
Introduced fruit and vegetable workshops for primary schools
Restricted chips to once in a 3 week cycle, these are 33% less fat
Taken off all carbonated drinks in primary schools and most secondary schools
Created a range of healthy items targeting secondary age pupils
Ensured that yoghurt, fresh fruit and cheese and biscuits are available daily
Introduced more pasta dishes
Taken off 'Turkey Twizzlers'!
Introduced more home-made main courses - fish pie, shepherd's pie topped with carrots and swede
Used our mascot Oscar, directed at primary children, to help better decision making
Begun training staff to achieve a qualification in nutrition
Supported the healthy eating, 5-a-day initiative

We will continue by:

Taking off all breaded products
Streamlining our menus more
Introducing more fresh ingredients
Widening our range of vegetarian dishes
Offering Fair Trade products in secondary schools
Encouraging greater parent involvement

Menus|

What's on offer in our canteens and restaurants

The Catering Team|

Who's involved in feeding our future.

Free school meals|

Help for families on low incomes.

Healthy Schools|

Aims of the National Healthy Schools Programme.

Oscar chooses wisely - School meals pupil booklet PDF 476K

Catering Services Newsletter - Summer 2010 PDF 354K

Catering Services Newsletter - Winter 2009 PDF 492K

Catering Services Newsletter - Summer 2009 PDF 304K

To view PDF files requires the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software.

School Food Trust Findings

School lunch and learning behaviour in secondary schools: an intervention study PDF 75K

School lunch and learning behaviour in primary schools: an intervention study PDF 69K

School lunch and learning behaviour in secondary schools: baseline dietary data PDF 73K

School Food Trust Survey 2009 PDF 200K

Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire

We welcome feedback from all our customers, if you would like to comment about hospitality services you can use our online customer satisfaction questionnaire.