Background Information:
Blake Valley Technology College is a secondary school in the Cannock area of Staffordshire. There are around 770 – 800 students on roll and the take up of school meals is around 200 a day of which 65 are free school meals (FSM’s).
“It is a specialist technology college and is a member of the Specialist Schools Trust’s improved club. The percentage of students from minority ethnic backgrounds is very low, as is the number of students for whom English is an additional language. The proportion of students eligible for free school meals is slightly above the national average. The school is part of a consortium with two other schools that offers joint sixth form provision.” (Ofsted 2008)
Why did the school want to make changes to the school meals service?
Kitchen area:
Some of the catering equipment was outdated and kitchen staff spent a large amount of time washing up manually. This impacted on the efficiency and capacity of the kitchen area. The kitchen staff were also responsible for serving and taking payment at the same time, but they only had two old fashioned tills.
Dining space:
Due to the volume of pupils accessing the dining room at mealtimes the queue is lengthy and snakes through the dining room. Menus are not on display in the queuing area, which means that pupils have to wait until they reach the servery to make a selection. Free School Meal (FSM) pupils are ticked off a list at the till alongside those who pay for their meals. This process causes a bottleneck in the queue and further slows down servery time.
Hot meals purchased from the canteen must be eaten in the dining hall which increases the volume of pupils utilising the space at lunchtime. The dining hall is in need of redecoration and the dining furniture design makes it difficult for pupils to manouvere around the dining hall.
School food:
Pupils are only able to buy food in the dining area. Therefore, many pupils leave the school site at lunchtimes to purchase food from the local shops.
Who was involved in driving forward the improvements?
- Head Teacher
- Deputy Head & Healthy Schools Co-ordinator
- School Business Manager & Project Manager
- Catering Manager
- Local Authority Catering Service Area Manager
- Industry Forum Facilitator
What improvements were made to the school lunch provision?
The school council, catering team and school staff recommended the following improvements be made to the school meals service:
- More self service
- Salad Bar
- More variety of food
- More seating
- Smaller queues
- Something interesting in the dining hall e.g. music or TV
- Make it more like a restaurant
- More publicity of what’s on offer
- See menus in advance – maybe put them on the tables
- High tables (poser tables) and stools (café style furniture)
- Cashless system for payment
Kitchen area:
New equipment including: a dishwasher, Panini grill, potato oven and mixer were installed in the kitchen area. Two new service points were also installed in the servery area with a cashless system to eliminate the need for staff to collect payment and record pupils taking a free school meal.
New servery equipment: including bain maries and a self service area was installed. Careful attention was given to the colour scheme, with the new equipment matching the colour and style of the new furniture that was to go in the dining hall. This created a cohesive area, giving the students a café style space as requested.
Dining space:
Pupils’ choices and suggestions for the dining room were reviewed and the final colour scheme chosen as; red, black and aluminum, giving the area a retro/industrial fusion theme. The wooden floor was re-sanded rather than replaced. Blake Valley Technology College worked with a furniture company to create a new design for the dining hall. Poser tables and chairs were purchased and installed around the edge of the dining space to create a café feel. A satellite servery was obtained which could be moved to other areas of the school in order to reduce queues in the main dining hall.
Blake Valley launched their new dining space with food tasters, tea and coffee for parents and pupils. The revamped dining space was officially opened by the local M.P.
School food:
Following a successful taster session with the pupils, the school installed a pasta bar style satellite servery, in another area of the school. The school also introduced a self serve section for ‘Grab and Go’ and sandwiches.
The school decided to install a satellite service point on the other side of the school to encourage pupils to purchase a school meal at lunchtimes, rather than leaving the site.
What were the benefits to the school?
Kitchen area:
The installation of new catering equipment increased efficiency and meal capacity. Kitchen staff no longer had to spend a large amount of time washing up manually. Replacing some of the older equipment has enabled caterers to create new and varied dishes.
The new servery area has improved the overall presentation of the food and is proving very popular with the pupils. Furthermore, the Biometric system has reduced the time taken to pay for meals, sped up the queue system and reduced the stigma for pupils claiming their FSM entitlement.
Dining Hall:
The dining hall is a much more pleasant environment, with a café feel that promotes social interaction. Capacity in the dining area has risen from 90 seats to 110 seats and the new layout has increased access. Queue time has been reduced through the addition of two service points and the cashless system.
School food:
Overall school meal take up in 2009 increased from 30.55% before half term (prior to the improvements) to 40.17% after half term (following the improvements). Furthermore, more pupils have registered for FSMs since the improvements were implemented.
Further information
If you would like further information please feel free to contact the School Food Trust on 0800 089 5001 or alternatively please email enquiries to info@childrensfoodtrust.org.uk
