Case Study: Ashington Community High
Region: Northumberland
Organisation: Secondary School
Description: Schools are slashing their meals bills almost in half by ditching expensive convenience foods and buying fresh local produce. The traditional meals have doubled the number of children eating school dinners. Ashington Community High School in Northumberland is one of the flagship schools which now serve healthy food supplying wartime levels of vitamins and minerals to pupils.
'When I came to the school four years ago just one in five pupils ate school meals,' said head of catering Bridget Harrington, School Cook of the Year 2000 'Now three in five do so, with as many as 80 per cent on some days. We buy locally and have made sure that the meals are totally fresh and healthy. I buy from local farmers I can trust.' This is borne out by the increased take up of school meals, with children opting for healthier meals, 'We have a salad bar, a sandwich area as well as a burger counter selling top quality beef and jacket potatoes. Twice a week we do a healthy roast dinner which the children love.'
Benefits
- Fresh food halves the cost of a school meal. We spend anything from 45p to 85p per meal on ingredients. Some inner city authorities, using the same criteria, could feed children for 40p a head. Instant, frozen food is not cheap as well as being unhealthy. Healthy menu (60p a child): Cabbage, new potatoes, carrots, baked ham and mustard sauce; fresh fruit and custard. Expensive menu (£1.50 a child): Chicken nuggets, frozen chips, onion rings, beans; chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce
- Pupils are not allowed to leave the school at lunchtime, and parents pay for meal vouchers by cheque each week, so they can be sure their children are not buying sweets instead.
- Benefits the local economy by buying from local producers and farmers, reduces 'food miles'.
- Healthier food on the children's plates due to local sourcing, this ensures more seasonal produce is used containing higher levels of nutrients as the food is fresh.
- Ofsted inspectors added in the schools 2003 report 'The impact on students' welfare is huge. There is surely a connection between this very healthy eating and the very calm civilised demeanour of the students.'
Lessons learned during implementation
- Ashington High School made a joint investment with Northumberland Operational Services to provide a state of the art Food Hall and Cyber Cafe.
- The cashless card system, which improves the speed of the service, has given catering staff more time to concentrate on improving other areas of the dining experience.
Case Study: Blackawton School
Region: South West
Organisation: Blackawton Primary School, South Devon (Study carried out by Devon Food Links)
Description: Parent volunteers concerned that their children were being sent home with letters regarding their bad behaviour at meal times decided to spend time eating in the school at lunchtime to observe the activities. They found:
- The number of children taking the school meal had dropped to 20. The rest were bringing in a packed lunch - of variable quality .
- Bullying at lunch times is associated with lunch box one-upmanship and there was plenty of this going on.
- Portions were very small - some of the older children were clearly still hungry at the end of the meal.
- The quality of the food was very poor and everything was highly processed. Typical menus included Turkey Twizzlers, creamed potatoes (reconstituted) and frozen peas or tinned sweet corn.
- No local food was being used and this upset many parents. Blackawton is a rural school and serves many farming families.
In September 2001, the contract with the central school meals supplier was ended and a new enthusiastic kitchen Manager (Lorraine) was given responsibility for providing the school meal service. Numbers of children taking the meal have risen to 70 on average. Blackawton manages to provide a quality school meal using local produce for £1.35. There are seven children in the school eligible for free school meals. To improve the quality of the lunchtime meal Lorraine introduced a morning break time snack bar where the children can purchase hot chocolate and biscuits or cake, fruit, milk and cordials. The profit from this goes towards the purchase of higher quality foods such as fresh fish. This could be considered an indirect form of subsidy on top of the basic school meal price.
Benefits
- Improved quality and healthiness of meals.
- Improved behaviour of the children.
- A dramatic increase in uptake of the school meals service which results in a more cost effective service and greater staff satisfaction and retention
Lessons learned
- Parents and children must be involved in deciding the school meals policy
- A quality school meal including local produce does not have to be more costly.
- The true cost of a cheap, highly processed school meal service can be very high - researches showing evidence of poor behaviour and educational performance.
- Chips, beans and processed food are for the convenient for central supply services but not what children want. The Devon Food Links research found that boys would rather have more hearty meals - cottage pie, stews etc. Girls would like salads and pasta dishes.
- Quality staff matter - short working hours and low rates of pay are a significant difficulty.
Sustainable food procurement initiative - South Gloucester Schools
Case Study: South Gloucestershire schools
Region: South West
Organisation: Local Authority
Description: Kay Knight who manages South Gloucestershire County Council Catering and Contract Services supplies all of the Councils 120 schools with a catering service. She has achieved her aim of increasing the amount of locally produced food used in the catering service. A great deal of time has been spent developing contacts with local producers including farm visits. As a result locally grown potatoes, vegetables and organic apples are used in the menus together with local meat, burgers and sausages and eggs. Kay is an experienced purchasing professional and her skills in procurement, contract management and the autonomy allowed her and exercised by her in decision making have contributed greatly to the success of her contractual relationships with her suppliers. Schools lunches have proved their popularity by doubling in turnover. In the last few months a breakfast service has been introduced in 20 primary schools. The provision of local food has extended to include a basket service allowing school staff to purchase local food for private consumption. The school tuck shop offers chopped fruit pieces using 2nd grade produce which is either too small or too large for supermarkets.
Benefits:
- Pupils in South Gloucestershire schools are eating food which is as fresh as possible.
- Pupils eating school meals has doubled.
- Local suppliers have come up with competitive prices.
- A unique marketing tool has been developed which benefits the pupils.
- Catering skills have been enhanced with the need to produce more meals from raw ingredients with a resultant increase in staff motivation and reduction in staff turnover.
Lesson learned during implementation:
- Additional time is needed to work with and develop local suppliers.
- Support not always forthcoming from schools as food is low on schools' list of priorities.
- Experience in purchasing and procurement is invaluable.
- "Goodwill - fade" has to be dealt with; an increasing demand on time in addition to the rigours of the day job when you are a successful case study.
Sustainable food procurement initiative - Cornish Schools
Case Study: Cornish Schools
Region: South West
Organisation: Local Authority
Description: Cornwall County Council's in house provider, Commercial Services, manages a recently won contract to supply catering services to 32 PFI primary and secondary schools. Commercial Services who is managed by Jayne Jago, their commercial manager, are committed to supporting the regional economy through the use of local food producers and has contracts with food suppliers who have pledged to use local produce wherever possible.
All contracts for the supply of food and drink were tendered in line with appropriate legislation and once contracts were awarded good working relationships were built up with suppliers continuing to search out as many new local suppliers as possible so enlarging the range of local foods included in the menus of schools pupils in these 32 Cornish schools. Ian Doble of Doble Quality Foods of St. Agnes, the contractor for frozen food, has proved through his contract with Commercial Services that it is not true that buying in bulk from national suppliers is the only way to keep prices low. Together with the campaign to provide greater opportunities for local suppliers, Commercial Services have initiated a number of high profile campaigns to encourage healthy eating in schools. .
Benefits:
- Profile of local foods has been raised in the region
- Supporting the regional economy after the set backs of foot and mouth
- "Everyone wins" scenario with pupils getting quality fresh food and the local economy getting a boost as well
Lessons learned during implementation:
- Becoming exposed as a successful local purchasing case study has meant that steps need to be taken to protect staff from increasing intrusion and demands on their time.
- More support is required for local producers to enable them to take advantage of the policy to provide them with greater opportunities to tender for contracts has brought about.
- Considerable work needs to done to raise the understanding of what the school catering service is all about particularly with regard to the menu requirements for this particular customer group.
- A successful business relationship has to be based on integrity and trust.
- Leave the legal side of tendering to the procurement and purchasing experts although the technical specification should be written by the operational catering managers.
Future Developments: Commercial Services is currently negotiating for new agreements with more schools for catering services who in turn will benefit from the inclusion of local food and drink in the meal provision. There will be an on going push to increase the range of local foods based on volume and range of product lines.
All contributions to this site are very welcome
Contact John Pearson / Stefania Isbell
Tel 01244 603191
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