School benefits from new chef and new suppliers
Case Study: Humphrey Perkins High School
Region: Barrow-upon-Soar, Leicestershire
Organisation: DfES
Description
Meals at Humphrey Perkins High School have been revolutionised after the school hired a restaurant head chef, re-named the dining facility as The Restaurant, revamped menus, ditched pre-prepared and the majority of its frozen food in favour of buying ingredients from local suppliers, replaced disposable plates and cutlery with new crockery and steel, and transformed the whole eating experience at the school.
Out went all greasy foods, and in came freshly-prepared dishes with wholesome and nutritious ingredients – and as a result, more and more youngsters are opting for a school meal. The school has also been piloting a cashless system, which means restaurant staff no longer have to handle money, students don’t need to carry cash, and parents can discover what their children have been eating.
After the first year of operating the new system, 60% of the 1,000 pupils were having a meal at school, compared to 50% 12 months previously, and the school expects numbers to continue rising with each new intake that joins.
Benefits
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Food is freshly prepared into dishes that are nutritionally balanced, wholesome and appealing to students. The range on offer includes a choice of three hot meals (one vegetarian option), plus baked potatoes and salad, tasty sandwiches and baguettes, a hot pudding, fruit, and fresh juices.
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Ingredients are sourced from local butchers, Leicester fruit and vegetable market, a nearby flour mill and other producers in the area, helping to boost the local economy and reduce food miles.
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The restaurant is now a dedicated eating space, rather than a multi-use room, which has helped to create a better ambience and more pleasant eating experience. Breakfast, as well as lunch, is served.
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The school has been piloting a cashless system, which recognises children by their thumb prints and a code, and the system is likely to be expanded into other areas of the school – helping to avoid the need for cash to be carried by students, which will increase security. It also allows parents to check on the food their children have been choosing, and helps head chef Tom Edwards keep track of what’s being consumed.
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Backing for the new catering service, which has ten staff plus the chef catering manager, has come from pupils, parents, governors and teachers, Leicestershire County Council’s school food support service, and everyone connected with the school.
Lessons learned during implementation
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It’s vital to get everyone involved with the school behind the plan to improve the whole eating experience. A questionnaire to parents, pupils and staff asking what was wrong with the old system sparked the biggest return of a questionnaire ever at the school. “Nearly every parent sent something back – we learned so much from the questionnaires,” explains school manager Alistair Keates.
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Pupils soon got used to the idea that they could no longer buy chips as their lunchtime meal, and quickly adapted to the new healthier options. “Students take about two weeks to get used to something, then they forget about what they had before. They have forgotten they used to have chips as a portion of chips,” adds chef catering manager Tom Edwards.
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As the new system has developed successfully, more local producers are being used to source ingredients. “This is exactly the sort of initiative that brings benefits all round – to the students, to the school and to local suppliers,” says Paul Sheppard, Public Sector Food Procurement Coordinator at The Food & Drink Forum, the East Midlands organisation that is spearheading the PSFPI in the region.
Future developments
The school is continuing to develop the food it offers to students. “It’s a balance between what we want to give the students and what they want to eat,” says chef catering manager Tom Edwards. “We have got something now that is working, and it’s just a case of making it better.”
More local producers are due to start supplying the school from September 2006.
The school is investigating future commercial and community opportunities to supply its tasty meals to other local organisations.
Other schools are looking at Humphrey Perkins High School as a model.
Further information
office@humphreyperkins.leics.sch.uk
Page published: 23 October 2006