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Bernard Matthews Backs Craft Guild’s Schools Initiative

16 December 2011

The Craft Guild of Chefs (CGC) has announced another top industry brand has agreed to get behind its Cooking As A Family workshops, with Bernard Matthews Foodservice now the latest company to lend its support to the scheme.

The events, which were trialled earlier in the year, see Craft Guild members visit school classroom kitchens to get parents and guardians cooking with their children.

Bernard Matthews will be providing turkey for the events, including at the first event in 2012, which is scheduled to take place on January 11 at the Simon Balle School in Hertfordshire.

Wirral Council urges parents to claim free school meals

15 December 2011 | North West Region

Wirral Council is urging parents to claim free school meals for eligible children, as schools say that many are still not claiming the meals they are entitled to.

In recent years the numbers of children receiving free school meals has been linked to school funding.

This means that even if a child takes a packed lunch into school rather than eat a hot meal, it is important that parents claim any free school meals their children are entitled to as this will impact on the funding schools receive for resources like books and computers.

Schools now follow guidelines as to ho

Sharing the School Food Trust’s vision

12 December 2011

The School Food Trust has partnered with The Children's Food Trust to share its vision – to provide children with a balanced diet, cooking skills and food education they need to reach their full potential.

The Children's Food Trust will have its formal launch at a Children's Food Conference on 7th March 2012, where speakers including Sir Michael Marmot and Dame Clare Tickell will join delegates to consider key issues facing families, food manufacturers and Government when it comes to helping children to eat well.

Chairman of the School Food Trust Rob Rees said: "Growing demand

Half a million extra kids are to qualify for Pupil Premium, according to reports

12 December 2011

The Department for Education has announced that half a million extra pupils are now to qualify for the Pupil Premium, one of the additional benefits provided to children registered for free school meals.

The support is to be extended to all children who have been registered for free school meals in the last six years.

In 2009-10 GCSE statistics showed that around a third of pupils who have been on Free School Meals in the previous six years achieved five or more A*- C grades, compared to more than two thirds of their fellow pupils. Pupils at secondary school are also les

Hampshire County Council Catering Services wins chicken award

12 December 2011 | South East Region

The Hampshire County Council Catering Services (HC3S) has received the ‘Good Chicken’ award from Compassion In World Farming for the use of chicken and chicken products that meet strict animal welfare criteria.

The accolade recognises HC3S’s commitment to ensuring the purchase only of higher welfare chicken, using only birds that are reared in better living conditions so that they have a longer, and healthy lifespan.

HC3S will ensure that all chicken products used in meals across Hampshire schools will be from RSPCA Freedom Food or equivalent sources by the end of 2014.

Top chef Brian Turner to present schools with Food for Life Partnership Awards

5 December 2011

Top chef Brian Turner is presenting the Gold and Silver Food for Life Partnership Awards to 19 schools from across the country on Wednesday (7 December) for their commitment to transforming school food culture.

The awarded schools are:

Gold
Chestnuts Primary School, Haringey, London
Collaton St Mary, Paignton, Devon
Crich Junior School, Matlock, Derbyshire
Great Missenden C of E Combined Primary School, Buckinghamshire
Farley Hill Primary School, Reading
Takeley Primary School, Takeley, Hertfordshire

Silver

LACA responds to Guardian letter on school meal standards in academies

2 December 2011

LACA chair Lynda Mitchell has sent a letter to the Guardian supporting the views of children’s food campaigner and teacher Jackie Schneider.

The national newspaper recently published a letter from Schneider, a Food For Life Partnership adviser, urging all supporters of school meal standards to challenge Education Secretary Michael Gove to apply the nutritional standards to academies and free schools.

Sodexo partners with Rocket Gardens to provide schools with grow-your-own kitchen gardens

2 December 2011 | London Region

Sodexo, a leading provider of onsite service solutions, has teamed up with Rocket Gardens to provide schools across the country with grow-your-own kitchen gardens.

As part of Rocket Gardens’ ‘Dig for the Future’ project, which encourages schools to get children growing organic vegetables and learning about the food they eat, Sodexo is providing schools in communities where it operates with seasonal fruit, vegetable and salad gardens.

The Sodexo Foundation, the company’s registered charity, is sponsoring the company’s partnership with Rocket Gardens as part of its STOP Hunger c