Not a bowl of soggy semolina in sight

Using fresh vegetables, organic milk or serving free-range meat is not only a question of preference, it is a matter of principle at Haydonleigh School and Westlea Primary School.

And the establishments have been recompensed for their mouth-watering menus, ingenious yet nutritious recipes and their commitment to improving pupils’ eating habits at the Food For Life Partnership Awards.

While Westlea achieved Silver, Haydonleigh received the coveted Gold award – no mean feat as it required a meticulous ingredient selection most top restaurants would find daunting.

Haydonleigh primary

WITH more than 40 dishes crafted specifically to its children’s taste Haydonleigh School has taken lunchtime to whole new level of gastronomic excellence.

From taster sessions to ensure any new recipe receives pupils’ stamp of approval, to a rigorous vetting process when choosing a local supplier, nothing is too much for kitchen manager Karen McFadyen’s 350 daily diners. Even with a budget of £2 per meal.

This meticulousness has been rewarded tenfold with the coveted Food For Life gold award – an accolade very few schools can aspire to.

“All the meals are freshly prepared on site using a least 75 per cent fresh food,” she said. “We get our meat from either Purton House Organics and the sausages free range from Hinton Marsh Farm.

“We had to go for meat that was red tractor approved, organic or free range as a minimum and that was the hardest thing. And the fish is Marine Stewart Council.

“We had silver for four years but it was a big step-up to go for gold. We have been working towards this goal seriously for two years. It is more restaurant-standard.

“I lost some of my meat suppliers because they didn’t meet the standard we required. But we had to do what needed to be done.

“Our sausages are made slightly smaller and Rebecca at Hinton Marsh Farm changed her recipe for me as well. We just want to serve the best quality we can for our children.”

The school also produces some of its vegetables, including cherry tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, cabbage and strawberries in their garden. And everybody has been enrolled in a cookery class to ensure they learn from a young age about nutrition and fun ways to prepare delicious meals from scratch.

Like any eatery worthy of the name, children have a choice of three mains each day – a meat dish, a vegetarian option or a jacket potato. The kitchen even started a salad bar to whet their appetites.

“When I first came I did chicken curry with apple and sultanas in it and the children didn’t like it all so I had to change the recipe. They have input.

“We do test days when we want to try something new. There is no point making a meal if they are not going to eat it. And we change the menu every term.”

Knowing where their food comes from is key and has led to many a trip to local farms.

Karen was the first to decry the poor quality of school lunches in her previous posts and in fact resigned as kitchen manager to become a teaching assistant.

It is only when a job opened at Haydonleigh in 2007 to launch a kitchen where quality would be staff’s first priority that she was swayed to return to her baking roots.

“I didn’t want to serve processed food to the children – it was awful, so I left. I was disillusioned with it.

“What I wanted to do is improve the health of the children and it’s great to see them all tucking in.

“Some of them start off fussy and then they increase the variety of food they are eating.

“The number of children having dinners and their popularity shows we are doing the right things. It speaks volumes.”

Westlea primary

“QUALITY, quality, quality” became the mantra that dictated every single decision when Westlea set out to build a school kitchen three years ago. And the proof is in the pudding, as the old saying goes.

Since its kitchen opened to pupils in April 2012, the number of children queuing each day for a warm meal has gone from just 35 to more than 150.

And the team is firmly determined to dispel the stigma hanging over school dinners as unpalatable or downright inedible.

“Before we had the kitchen it was just a serverie, we had no equipment her,” said kitchen manager Lynda Wells. “Now everything is homemade in the kitchen and the children love it.

“It was really hard work setting up the kitchen but it was worth it. I’ve worked in school kitchens for the last 15 years and I had never seen children coming back for seconds.”

As of last Easter, the school also has its own chicken providing the cooks with fresh eggs each day. The fruit is supplied by S&R Fruits and all the meat by Welsh Bros.

The school broke records by achieving a bronze and silver rating within 18 months.

“It’s unheard of for a school and we are very proud,” added deputy head teacher Sarah Sumner.

“It’s been a team effort. It’s a big commitment but we want to do it for our children.

“We just want all the children to eat properly but on a Friday we have Healthy Tick Day so they get a healthy treat. They can have oven chips – we don’t fry anything here – and cookies, yogurts and milkshakes.”

Routine is not part of the school’s vocabulary. In fact the pupils have around 30 dishes to choose from throughout the term. For £2.20 each day children get a to choose between a hot meal, a packed lunch or a jacket potato. Thursday’s weekly roast is a firm favourite and the busiest day of the week for the Lynda and her two kitchens assistants.

“The roast is my signature,” said Lynda. “They just adore it. But we have a different menu every week and we offer more choices than a lot of schools. We even have themes like bonfire night, Valentine’s Day, African, Indian and Polish days.

“A lot of the children don’t know what a lot of vegetables are – they’ve never had them before. If they say I don’t want to eat this or that but they don’t know what it is, we make sure they try a little bit. If they do we give them a sticker. We want the children to try new things.”

And children’s (and even their families) culinary education does not stop at the canteen – far from it. The school also holds taster nights for parents.

Lynda along with Claire Baldwin, one of her assistants, have also taken it upon themselves to teach children how to cook after school. The two cookery clubs are oversubscribed and to ensure every pupil gets a turn, the class is limited to six weeks at a time.

High achievers or deserving pupils also have a special table laid out for them complete with coloured cutlery, tablecloth and even flowers as a centrepiece as a reward for their hard work. Seeing food as a social experience, and something to enjoy with friends, is key to the Westlea ethos.

“They are getting there with their home cooking and they are more aware of what they are eating,” she added. “But we also want them to see it as a social thing.”