School meals and education catering

Schools, parents, carers and pupils will know, over the last two years we have been transforming school meals in Plymouth and introducing the mandatory 'food standards for school lunches' and the 'food standards for school food other than school lunch' (breakfast clubs, tuck services and after school clubs).

Thanks to the support of schools and the hard work of staff we have had significant success in this area with meal numbers increasing substantially in some schools and generally improving in others. In fact, the service exceeded the Government’s first target for the uptake of school meals which was for a four per cent increase on 2006 figures by March 2008. We will continue to work with all interested parties to achieve the target of a ten per cent increase by the end of 2009.

For primary schools across England, September 2008 sees the next stage of implementation when all school food providers are required to ensure that lunch menus are fully compliant with the nutrient standards as published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the School Food Trust. The required implementation date for secondary schools and special schools is September 2009. Visit our food and nutritional standards page for details.

Background to the service

As part of the Department for Children’s Services, education catering provides catering services to the authority’s entire infant, junior and primary schools, the non-residential special schools and five secondary schools, serving approximately 9,000 meals each and every day of the academic year.

Timeline

September 2005 – creation of the school food trust

September 2006 - mandatory food standards introduced for all school lunches

September 2007 – mandatory food standards (revised)

September 2007 - mandatory food standards for all school food other than lunch

September 2008 – mandatory food and nutrient standards for school lunches in primary schools

September 2009 – mandatory food and nutrient standards for school lunches in secondary schools and special schools

The mandatory standards for food other than lunch apply to breakfast clubs, school break and tuck services, after school clubs and vending services. This means that there are now standards that apply across the whole school day and we are working closely with schools and other providers to ensure that school food policies reflect this.

We continue to strive to improve our service to the pupils and students of Plymouth, while promoting the benefits of healthy, nutritious and balanced meals and through partnerships with schools and the department’s Healthy Schools Team, an active lifestyle.

Continued and future developments in Plymouth

1. To enable us to deliver a first class school meals service since 2006 we have been implementing a three year plan to invest in and upgrade equipment within school kitchens. So far we have installed combination ovens in 30 schools and these allow us to use more effective and efficient cooking methods which mean that we can provide more healthily cooked food. Also, we have removed deep fat fryers from these schools. Further installations and upgrades are planned for the summer holiday period in another eight primary schools.
2. Our menu development and food costing software now allows us to meet the statutory requirements of the food and nutrient standards and where necessary, publish the data for schools and their governing bodies to demonstrate this.

Training and staff development and employment opportunities

We know that our frontline staff are one of our best assets. All of our staff are trained to the highest standard. Training includes:

• Level 2 Award - food safety in catering
• Level 2 Award - health and safety in the work place.

We also deliver nutritional training to all staff as recommended within the Government and School Food Trust’s guidelines which will further support our kitchen managers and their understanding of the benefits of good nutrition.

• Level 1 Award - providing a healthier school meals service
• Level 2 Award - healthier food and special diets

The full range of courses currently available may be downloaded from the documents table below. Courses are also open to individuals, schools and external organisations. Please contact us for a discussion or for more details email catering@plymouth.gov.uk.

We are continuing our work with City College Plymouth and the Ashburton School of Cookery who, in partnership, have been awarded the School Food Trust’s 'School FEAST' centre status (Food Excellence and Skills Training) for the south west.

Employment opportunities

If you would like to be part of the Education Catering Service in Plymouth and help us to make a real difference, job vacancies are regularly updated. If you’re interested, why not visit the council job vacancies page or look out for details in the local press and job centres.

Please note that all jobs within Education Catering are subject to an Enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check.

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