Fifteen Thurrock and Havering schools have won the Food for Life Partnership Bronze Award after serving seasonal school meals cooked by a well-trained school cook. They are also working with the partnership to encourage children to become more connected to the growing and cooking of their food.
The Mayors of Thurrock and Havering celebrated the fantastic achievements of schools from their respective boroughs at the prestigious Food for Life Partnership Bronze Award Ceremony on Thursday 1 December. The Award Ceremony, which took place at High House Production Park, recognises schools that have excelled in transforming their food culture and is the first of its kind to be held in the area.
Children and staff from 15 schools across the region attended the ceremony, and were presented with a Bronze Award by Charles Curtis, Mayor of Thurrock. School’s work with the Food for Life Partnership to transform their food culture, and that of their communities, by reconnecting children with climate-friendly and healthy food through growing and cooking activities and farm visits.
The Food for Life Partnership Bronze Award means that schools have started to serve seasonal school meals with 75% of the dishes being freshly prepared by a well-trained school cook. Pupils and parents are involved in planning improvements to school menus and the dining experience, and every pupil has the opportunity to visit a farm and cook and grow food during his or her time at school.
Headteacher Jo Sawtell at Kenningtons Primary School in Aveley, Essex, says: “Through the support of the Food for Life Partnership team and the achievement of the Bronze Food for Life Partnership Award, we have raised awareness and transformed food culture in the school. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn about the impact of food on health and that of the planet. I hope that the knowledge the children are gaining from this initiative will have an impact on future generations to lead a healthy lifestyle.”
Thirteen of the schools are catered for by Havering and Thurrock Catering Services, which has achieved the Food for Life Silver Catering Mark for its meals served to 90 plus schools in Havering and Thurrock.
Kevin Hobart, Catering Operations Manager at Havering and Thurrock Catering Services, says: “I’m really pleased that our work to achieve the Food for Life Silver Catering Mark has helped these schools kick off their journey to transform food culture in London & Essex. We would now like to extend this to more of our schools so they can benefit. School food provision should be an integral part of pupils’ education – they learn about animal welfare and local, seasonal food, see it growing and then to eat it as part of their lunch, and they will leave school with a desire to make healthy food choices.”
The Food for Life Partnership is a network of schools and communities across England committed to transforming food culture. Together we are revolutionising school meals, reconnecting young people with farms and inspiring families to cook and grow food. The initiative is funded by the Big Lottery Fund and led by the Soil Association, bringing together the practical expertise of the Focus on Food Campaign, Garden Organic and the Health Education Trust.
Food for Life Silver Catering Mark for London Borough of Havering
SILVER
The London Borough of Havering’s School Catering Service (HCS) has been awarded the Silver Food for Life Catering Mark by the Soil Association for the food served in its school meal service.
HCS are one of the first Local Authority operated catering service in London and one of the few services throughout the country to be awarded this nationally recognised award. HCS gained the Silver Food for Life Catering Mark which guarantees that we serve fresh, seasonal food made with a range of local and organic ingredients.
- Our food is fresh.
- Our menus are seasonal.
- All of our food is free from undesirable e-numbers.
- Our food is free from controversial additives like aspartame, tartrazine and MSG.
- All of our food is free from trans fats.
We don’t use any GM ingredients.
- We make more than 75% of our meals from scratch in our own kitchen.
- All of our meat and dairy products are from farms which have good standards of animal welfare.
- All of our eggs are free range.
- Our fish is approved by the Marine Conservation Society and is from sustainable sources.
- Our meat and dairy products come from farms with high standards of animal welfare.
- A range of our food is local – guaranteed by the Food for Life Catering Mark
- At least 10% of our menu is certified Organic.
In addition to that
- We are serving organic beefburgers from Rother Valley farm in West Sussex and Freedom Food turkey from Hollyberry farm in Lincolnshire
- We serve fair trade orange juice.
- We use local and seasonal fruit and vegetables.
- Serving local and seasonal food helps us contribute to the local economy and support farmers and traders in our area.
- Serving local and seasonal food is reducing our carbon footprint.
- Serving local and seasonal food means our menus are greener.
- For every £1 we invest in Catering Mark menus, there is a return of over £3 to the local economy.
An additional benefit of this award is that one of Havering’s neighboring authorities, Thurrock Unitary Authority, has also been awarded the Silver Catering Mark, as for the past 3 years the service has been managed and operated for Thurrock by HCS. By both authorities having the same menus, recipes and suppliers the award has been given to both local authorities.
This collaborative working benefits both authorities and more importantly pupils of both local authorities who will benefit from fresh nutritious local food in their school meals.
Schools in Havering will be encouraged to apply for the Bronze and Silver Food for Life Award for their school now that the catering mark has been awarded. The award for schools means:
BRONZE schools serve seasonal school meals that are at least 75% freshly prepared by a well-trained school cook. Pupils and parents are involved in planning improvements to school menus and the dining experience via a school nutrition action group, boosting school meal take-up. Every pupil has the opportunity to visit a farm during his or her time at school, and opportunities are given for cooking and food growing activity.
SILVER schools serve a range of locally sourced and organic . All chicken, bacon and sausages served are Freedom Food certified or free range and no fish from unsustainable sources is served. The school has a cooking club, and pupils get to cook with and eat the produce grown in the school growing area. Parents and the wider community get involved in food education via food-themed events.
HCS are working with officers from community regeneration and the Harold Hill Ambitions program to promote FFL as a way of engaging with schools to encourage wider community involvement with food in schools by the establishment of cooking and growing clubs with the aim of promoting healthy diets and lifestyles.
Awards Evening
Havering catering Service Hosted a joint awards evening with both Thurrock and Havering mayors attending, giving out certificates to both Havering and Thurrock Cooks.
We were very proud to hold an awards evening at the town hall on Tuesday nov 8th for several of our staff who had achieved both NVQ and Level III Food Safety qualifications. The NVQ awards requires the candidate to be assessed over a period of time over a range of skills. The Level III is a three day course covering Food safety, legal requirements, supervisory skills and much much more. It also involves a 60 question exam paper that many find quite daunting but several of our team achieved a merit award.
Good Food on the Public Plate Award
For the Second year Havering Catering Services has won a Good Food on the Public Plate Award which was in recognition of its efforts in promoting and supporting the work to ensure sustainable food is used in its catering operations
The awards, presented at City Hall by Rosie Boycott, Chair of the London Food Board, went to 22 universities, hospitals and other public sector bodies in London who have made great strides to make the food they serve more sustainable by ensuring it is local, seasonal, Fairtrade or assured by an animal welfare scheme.
Gerry Clinton from Havering Catering Services said: "We are pleased and honoured to receive this our second Good Food On The Public Plate Award, in recognition of the work we do in Havering to procure and promote sustainable food in our school meals service."
Good Food on the Public Plate organises the awards to celebrate those in the public sector who are working hard to make sure that the meals they serve not only taste good, but also benefit the environment and are ethically sourced.
Rosie Boycott said: "The London Borough of Havering should be congratulated."
She continued: "The Good Food on the Public Plate awards show off public sector caterers who are proving their food can be delicious, healthy and good for the planet. Crucially, taking these steps with creativity means good food need not cost the earth at a time when budgets are under increasing pressure. These food champions provide a great example that other organisations should follow."
The public sector serves over a billion meals every year to school children, hospital patients and our most vulnerable citizens.
The winners have all made one or more significant changes – some have converted to only using free range eggs, or have decided not to buy bottled water. Others are now buying fish from certified sustainable sources or have committed to only buying organic milk.
NVQ Success
Over the past 18 months, more and more children have been enjoying Havering's delicious, healthy school lunches. Focusing on freshly prepared, nutritionally balanced meals the Council's Healthy Options menu has been a fantastic success and enjoys a take up of 43% in local schools. This success is in no small part due to the borough's hard working school cooks, some of whom have been studying for NVQs.
Some of the ladies received their NVQ qualifications in Professional Cookery, Professional Food Preparation and Processing in March 2008 from the Mayor of Havering Councillor Georgina Galpin. She said: "I would like to say well done to all of those who got their qualifications, the school cooks job is not just about cooking, it is about planning a healthy balanced diet for our young people." Following on from that initial success other ladies have also gone on to complete NVQs. Working in partnership with Qube Ltd and HIT training, the council will continue its commitment to providing training.
Havering's Catering Operations Manager, Kevin Hobart said: "As a service we are proud of all of our kitchen teams and are thrilled at this recognition of the hard work and commitment shown on a daily basis to providing healthy meals to the pupils and teaching staff of Havering."
Celebrating success
Every year HCS recognises the acheivements of the staff in their kitchens and rewards those whose performance has been outstanding over the school year.
This years awards night was held at Emerson Park School and Joe Coogan – Assistant Director for Social Care & Learning was on hand to present the awards with some of our suppliers and sponsors.
"The annual Catering Awards are an excellent example of reward and recognition for individuals and kitchen teams through out Havering & Thurrock school kitchens. Our school catering teams provide a quality, award winning service to our schools, and deserve to celebrate that success. Congratulations to all the cooks nominated and well done to all the winners" - Joe Coogan
Feeding the Future Meals at your child's school
Over the past three years meals have changed to improve the quality and variety available. HCS constantly strive to source and provide the highest quality of ingredients available; this is to assure you that your child is getting the absolute best value for money when they have a school lunch.
Menus are served on a three week basis, which means children have a chance to try out a variety of new foods, as well as dishes from other parts of the world, such as chicken tikka fillets, enchiladas and Moussaka. Ingredients for Havering's school meals are sourced locally or from sustainable sources, such as Red Tractor and Marine Stewardship fish. The meals are also good value for money, with a two-course primary meal costing just £1.95.
Secondary Menus
We also launched a new secondary menu in September which can be found on our website and offers a daily choice of two main courses, as well as a choice of hot chicken wraps, freshly cooked pasta in a selection of sauces, freshly prepared pizza, self help salad bar, a selection of filled rolls and baguettes all using fresh ingredients. Again we offer a Meal deal of a main course with FREE vegetables or salad and a hot dessert or piece of fruit for only £2.20 - less than a high street cappuccino!
To find out if your child is eligible for free school meals, call 433929 or download a form from www.havering.gov.uk
Investing in good quality food and a balanced diet is an investment in your child's future. Much loved meals such as sausages and burgers are still offered using high quality meats from reputable sources. HCS work closely with the School Food Trust (SFT) and the Food for Life Partnership to provide good quality food that meets the SFT guidelines and regulations. More information for Schools, Parents and Governors can be found on the SFT web site. www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk
Just eat more (fruit and veg.)
Our meals contain even more fruit and vegetables for your child to enjoy and to contribute towards their 5 portions-a-day which is recommended for all children. By having a school meal your child will receive all the energy and nutrients to see them through the school day.
We want the children of Havering to be healthy and happy. Children need to eat a balanced diet including carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, fats and minerals every day. At HCS we ensure that the meals we provide for your child are well balanced and nutritious.
Together we can make sure that your child's daily diet is healthy and balanced, improving their well being and development.
We are always seeking to improve the service that we provide, any comments and suggestions that you have about our service will always be gratefully received.
Please write to:
Kevin Hobart - Catering Operations Manager at:
London Borough Of Havering, 7th Floor, Mercury House, Mercury Gardens, Romford, Essex, RM1 3SL
Or email schoolcatering@havering.gov.uk
Would you like to join our team?
HCS employ over 300 local staff to work across the borough in school kitchens, at hours to suit the school day. If you would like to be part of a successful catering organisation with hours that fit around your family life, working from 1 to 4 hours per day, term time only, then why not give us a call on 01708-433127 for further details and an application form.