The School FEAST (Food Excellence And Skills Training) network helps ensure today's caterers and cooks gain the skills they need to provide healthy, legally compliant school lunches. It also ensures the quality and motivation of future generations of school lunch providers.
A changing workplace
Significant, recent changes to the school meals service means it is essential those providing the service are up-to-date. From September 2009, all schools must comply with the government’s food and nutrient-based standards aimed at improving the quality of school meals.
The new standards mean that schools, local authorities or catering providers must, by law, ensure specific qualities of an average school lunch. Calculated over a one to four-week menu cycle, the school lunch must meet specific standards for energy and 13 nutrients, including iron, calcium and zinc. Alongside these changes there is an increasingly discerning customer, who requires school meals to be both visually appealing and appetizing.
The Trust supports all those involved in providing school meals, and their employers, to gain the necessary skills and knowledge to support them through these changes and beyond.
The School FEAST network
To this end, the Trust has led partnership work to establish the School FEAST (Food Excellence And Skills Training) network.
The School FEAST network brings together excellent training providers across England, offering a wide range of training and support to all those involved in improving school meals. This includes school cooks, kitchen assistants, lunchtime supervisors, teachers, bursars and employers.
The network includes further education colleges, and private and employer-led training providers. These organisations provide training or qualifications individually as a School FEAST centre or together with others as a School FEAST partnership.
What training does the School FEAST network deliver?
The School FEAST network provides a comprehensive package of training and qualifications, from hands-on cooking lessons to formal qualifications at National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) level 2 and beyond. As a member of the School FEAST network, each centre and partnership provides a core offer of qualifications. The core offer comprises:
- Vocationallly Related Qualification (VRQ) Level 1 Award in Providing a Healthier School Meals Service
- Support Work in Schools Level 2
- Support Work in Schools Level 3
- NVQ Level 2 Professional Cookery
- NVQ Level 2 Food Processing and Cooking
The VRQ level 1Award in Providing a Healthier School Meals Service has been updated to reflect the new, nutrient-based standards for school food and to introduce greater emphasis on promotion. To order copies of the amended course documents, please email Emma.Melhuish@sft.gsi.gov.uk
Centres and partnerships may provide other training and qualifications designed to meet the specific needs of their learners.
How flexible is the training?
Any training opportunity should be tailored to your particular needs and work schedule. All members of the School FEAST network must consider a range of ways to run training courses. Many organisations are offering flexible access to their training provision, including evening and weekend courses, e-learning and work-based learning.
All School FEAST centres and partnerships complete a pre-training assessment with those considering doing a course or formal qualification. They work with employers and their staff to assess their training needs then match those needs with the most appropriate training or qualification.
Some courses are free and learning can be on-the-job. Others must be paid for and you may need to take time out to attend a college or other training establishment.
