Plymouth school meals team crowned best in the country

A team serving up millions of school meals to children in Plymouth has been crowned best education caterer in the country for its locally sourced, quality ingredients and seasonal menus at a national award ceremony.

Plymouth City Council’s Education Catering Service was picked for the coveted top spot at the EDUcatering Excellence Awards 2013 in London this week, scooping the title of 'Local Authority Caterer of the Year'.

Brad Pearce, Education Catering Manager, said: “I’m thrilled and very proud that Plymouth has been recognised at a national level. My team work incredibly hard and we have very talented and caring catering staff who want to give our children tasty and nutritious meals.

“To add the title of Local Authority Catered of the Year to our ‘Good Egg Award’ for using only organic eggs and our Gold standard from the Soil Association for our fresh, seasonal menus using local suppliers is the icing on the cake!

“But we won’t stop there. We are continuously looking at what we serve and how we could improve our meals. We want to provide the best food possible to children in the city so they have healthy and delicious meals to choose from every day.”

Brad’s team stiffly beat off competition from Wrexham Catering and Caerphilly Catering Services to scoop the highly regarded title. Plymouth was chosen as it is widely recognised as one of the country’s pioneering education catering services, and as such, is currently working on implementation of the new national School Food Plan published in July by Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent, owners of the LEON chain of restaurants in London.

Brad explains: “The plan sets out a series of actions that need to happen to transform what children eat at school, and how they learn about food. It also mirrors much of the work we already do in Plymouth. I’m really pleased that as a city and a council we’re helping to drive change across the country.”

As further recognition of the work in Plymouth, Brad is also a blogging School Food Plan storyteller and has been asked to be part of the Plan’s Small Schools Taskforce, who will help small schools overcome their particular logistical difficulties.

Councillor Nicky Williams, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said: “Congratulations to our Education Catering Service! We’re incredibly proud of the team – they are a real credit to us. They capture perfectly many of the aspirations and values of our brilliant co-operative council vision. They work closely with schools, local suppliers and most importantly they listen to their customers and act on their feedback. The team is really making a difference to education in Plymouth by providing quality, healthy hot meals for children, which helps with concentration and ultimately achievement at school.”

The Council’s Education Catering Service provides school lunches at 64 primary schools, five special schools, one nursery school, one Alternatively Complementary Education Service and two secondary academies.

The price of a two-course school meal from the Service is £2.00 for primary and special schools and £2.20p for secondary schools.

More information about the School Food Plan can be found at www.schoolfoodplan.com