From chips to ciabatta: 58% more pupils enjoy improved school meals

More pupils at Monmouth Comprehensive School are enjoying school meals since the menus have been overhauled, one Monmouthshire school said this month.

At a meeting of Monmouth Comprehensive's school council teachers and pupils told council officers how the school meals service has developed over the past eight years.

Mrs Carol Anderson, Headteacher, said that when she first arrived at the school eight years ago she was very concerned not only about the types of food that were offered in school but also the quality of food. Chips were served with everything in polystyrene disposal dishes, there was no vegetarian option and 75% of the food served ended up in the bin. Only 20% of the school population used the restaurant. Students did not like to drink the water that was available on tables in plastic jugs.

She said:

"The school has taken a long transformational journey over the past eight years.  The school is now serving a variety of foods and healthy eating is top of the agenda."

Over 78% of students now use the school restaurant which is open daily from 7am to 6pm.

• A fruit bar, salad bar and pasta and noodle bar are available every day;

• Free filtered chilled water is available;

• There is no disposable crockery;

• Waste food is analysed daily and noted.

The total waste per week is always less than 3kg and the largest amount of waste comes from student packed lunches.

The school has also introduced a very successful recycling programme. As a result skip collections have reduced from 21k to 5k per annum. The school aims to cease using skips by September 2010.

A cashless system has also been introduced in the restaurant which has encouraged those students entitled to free school meals to use the restaurant resulting in a 100% uptake of free school meals.

Mrs Anderson said:

"All this would not have been achievable without the support from students and parents and also because of the fantastic partnership with Redcliffe Catering."

The school council has played an important role in involving the pupils in the improvement of the service. Representatives from Redcliffe Catering regularly attend school council meetings.

Sam Rain, Catering Manger from Redcliffe, described the fantastic relationship the company have developed with the school and how the service has become more customer focussed:

"Monmouth Comprehensive School are very forward thinking. The students are very retail savvy".

Redcliffe have introduced a variety of ‘special offers' in order to promote the service and increase sales, including  the ‘alarming special' - the bell rings once a day and whoever is at the till at that time has their meal for free!

Hannah Brearley, Head Girl, was embarrassed to say that when she was in year 7 she used to live on pot noodles which were available form the school vending machines.

Liam Phillips, School Council representative, said:

"Students were apprehensive about the changes at first but now attitudes have changed. The ‘Pasta King' bar is excellent!"

Kyle Price, School Council representative, said:

"The whole ethos of the school has changed to a far more positive approach to food, fitness, health and wellbeing."

Kerry Robinson, Food in Schools Coordinator for Wales, Emma Taylor Healthy Schools Coordinator for Monmouthshire County Council and Sally Blandford Appetite for Life Coordinator for Monmouthshire County Council were invited to attend the school council meeting at Monmouth Comprehensive School.

The school have also supported this work through the curriculum in a range of subject areas. Last year students in year 8 visited Trealy Farm Charcuterie in Monmouth in a ‘seed to stomach' project. They fed pigs, handled sheep and milked goats, tasted sausages made on the farm and then went on to devise their own recipe using various spices and herbs.

Students from Monmouth Comprehensive then went on to win a sausage making competition at the Abergavenny Food Festival. The sausage, named the ‘Monmouthful' is supplied by Trealy Farm Charcuterie and served in the school restaurant. The school also uses other local supplies, including Wigmores Bakery of Monmouth that supplies bread to the school restaurant.