8 December 2011 – Chef/restaurateur Brian Turner presented the prestigious Gold and Silver Food for Life Partnership Award to 19 schools and the bronze, silver and gold Catering Mark to 12 caterers from across the country for their commitment to transforming school food culture on Wednesday 7 December. The award ceremony took place at 15 Hatfields, an environmentally-friendly conference centre in London
Brian Turner said: "These schools and caterers have proved that they are trailblazers for healthy food and practical food education in their regions. Children involved with the Food for Life Partnership are cooking, growing organic fruit and veg, visiting farms, sitting together to eat a good, wholesome meal, and they’re taking these skills back to their families and the local community. What better way to tackle obesity and other health issues as well as social cohesion? Food for Life Partnership schools are paving the way for a positive future for these children.”
The Food for Life Partnership award means that the schools serves school meals on plates, not flight trays, and has a range of locally sourced and organic items on the school menu. 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, cook and grow food during his or her time at school. The wider community is also involved in food education via food-themed events.
The Food for Life Catering Mark is an award which offers a step-by-step route to providing freshly prepared, locally produced, seasonal and organic food. Open to caterers in all sectors, the Catering Mark has three tiers: bronze, silver and gold, with the bronze award requiring the caterer’s menu to be 75% freshly prepared, free from controversial additives and seasonal.
Jeanette Orrey, School Meals Policy Advisor for the Food for Life Partnership, emphasises how much has happened in the school food arena since she co-founded the original school food campaign with the Soil Association back in 2003. She says:“When we started campaigning for better school dinners we had no idea that more than 4,000 schools would have joined the campaign, and not only improve their school dinners, but also to embrace food education. We must make sure that all this good work carries on and that the Coalition Government makes a good, healthy and sustainable food culture in schools and their communities a priority.”
Evaluation of the Food for Life Partnership by the University of the West of England and Cardiff University released in May has found that schools taking part in the programme were rated more highly by Ofsted inspectors. It also shows that pupils’ interest in healthy and sustainable foods was having a “nudge effect” on their eating habits and their parents’ shopping habits.
Read the report.
The awarded schools are:
GOLD
Chestnuts Primary School, Haringey, London
Collaton St Mary, Paignton, Devon
Crich Infant School, Matlock, Derbyshire
Great Missenden C of E Combined Primary School, Buckinghamshire
Farley Hill Primary School, Reading
Takeley Primary School, Takeley, Hertfordshire
SILVER
All Saints CEVC Primary, Bury St Edmonds
Carshalton Boys Sports College, Carshalton, Surrey
Cowes Primary, Isle of Wight
Dereham Neatherd High School, Dereham, Norfolk
Felsted Preparatory, Dunmow, Essex
Heathwood Lower Shool, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire
Howard Junior School, King’s Lynn, Norfolk
Nacton CEVC Primary School, Ipswich, Suffolk
Nightingale First School, Norwich
Singlegate Primary School, Colliers Wood, London
St Edwards C of E Primary School, Romford, Essex
St Peters CE Middle School, Old Windsor, Berkshire
Thurston Community College, Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk
The awarded caterers are:
GOLD
Alliance in Partnership, Oldbury, West Midlands
SILVER
Ashlyns Organics Ltd, High Laver, Essex
London Borough of Havering and Thurrock
London Borough of Sutton
Norse Commercial Services, Norwich
Pride Catering, Guildford
BRONZE
London Borough of Greenwich
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
London Borough of Waltham Forest
Pabulum Catering, Isle of Wight
Sodexo (national), based in London
The Contract Dining Company, London