A fresh batch of ketchup is bubbling on the hob in the kitchen at Smallwood Primary School while head chef Emandy mixes together her secret blend of spices for that day’s lunch of jerk chicken. Pupils pop in with a bowl of vegetables they’ve picked from the school veg patch.
Meanwhile, over at Eversley Primary School, chef Estherlove is making a batch of chicken biryani from scratch and planning her next food education class for pupils.
These kitchens are very different - Smallwood is managed in-house by the school, the other is part of Enfield Catering - a local authority caterer with over 40 schools on its books - but both have one thing in common, they recently made the decision to stop using processed and frozen food, opting to switch to fresh ingredients and making all meals from scratch.
Both collaborated with us, Chefs in Schools, to make their vision a reality.
Our charity was formed after Henry Dimbleby, author of the National Food Strategy, tweeted asking for a chef to work in his children’s school. Nicole Pisani took on a dual role of feeding the pupils fresh, nutritious meals, all made from scratch, and educating them about food.
Nicole, Henry and the school’s executive head Louise Nichols, thought the model could work in other schools and Chefs in Schools was born. In three years, we’ve trained over 50 school kitchen teams nationwide, empowering them to cook great food from fresh, raw ingredients.
First, let’s look at what we’ve found works well when a standalone primary school, like Smallwood with around 280 pupils, wants to transform its lunch offer.
We visit, carry out a skills and structure audit, spend some time with the team to find out what training they’ve had, assess if they need any additional staff, and then develop an intensive training plan.
At Smallwood we found a talented team keen to cook meals themselves, but needing some training to make it happen. For two weeks our chef trainers worked alongside the team, helping them to create and cook new menus. Afterwards, the team continues to have access to our recipes, suppliers who support us, and they know they can always call if help is needed.
Head chef Emandy and her team welcomed the training and have enjoyed the change of direction.
She says: “We used to serve everything and anything, but it was mostly processed and frozen food. We had baked beans in tins, now we cook them from scratch.
“And take Fridays. Friday is fish day, so before it would come frozen, but now it’s fresh fish and we make it with flour and breadcrumbs. We had training before but nothing in-depth like this.”
Enfield Catering, a not-for-profit local authority caterer, was a different proposition. When it started a project to transform its food service, we had a chance to work with more than 40 schools at once. The aim was to bring chefs into the leadership team and to make all meals from fresh ingredients. It was an exciting venture for both sides to trial and assess.
Cheryl Headon, head of schools traded services at Enfield Catering, said: “We had a vision for our service. We wanted to develop a way of working that would embed school meals as part of the school day and not just an operational transaction. We also saw potential for food education and the benefits of investing in the kitchen teams.”
Instead of working in the individual kitchens, we supported Enfield as they inducted three lead chefs who would oversee their schools, develop the menus and offer ongoing training. In year one of the partnership, Enfield Catering has invested in the development of 15 of their chefs by putting them through our pilot School Chef Qualification, which teaches skills, the school food standards and nutritional know-how.
For Estherlove Boateng, chef at Eversley Primary School, the change has been welcome.
“It’s much better now because we don’t have to just cook processed food and reheat frozen stuff,” Estherlove said.
“We use all fresh produce, even if we make a cake it’s totally homemade. I’m cooking food for the kids to eat instead of just throwing away, and that’s really good to see. I get lots of compliments from the kids and when I see that it encourages me to try new things they might like so that they come back up for more.”
But across the different schools there are different skill levels, staff sickness is an additional challenge and there are the tight service deadlines, plus keeping to budgets while also paying at least the London Living Wage.
Cheryl Headon says there was plenty of enthusiasm in the team to find a solution.
“Every school caterer has financial constraints, but we wanted to develop a values-led service within those constraints which put food at the heart of a school.
“So far it’s working. All of our schools have edible gardens so children can learn about food. In terms of budget management, we’re being smart with our dishes to stretch the budgets as far as possible.
“For example, we’ll think - can we make one dish work for every student? Can it be gluten-free, can it be vegan, does it need dairy? Whatever we serve, our aim is to ensure children are getting the best, nutritional meal possible.”
But what about the different skill levels in the kitchen teams?
Training has been key. James Barrington, commercial operations manager at Enfield Catering, said: “The lead chefs know their teams. If we’re doing pizza, some will make their own pizza dough, some will use bases, but make their own vegetable sauce.
“We’ll slowly build their confidence to make the dough. It’s incredible to see how their confidence has grown with some training.”
Enfield Catering found that, by adopting the new model, a positive impact on staff absence followed.
“In terms of sickness,” James said, “we’ve built a good team spirit now. If someone is sick, the teams will often start a little earlier or finish a little later. Or we’ll use agency staff where needed.”
And what about service and keeping to time?
He says: “In the early stages of moving to a culture of cooking everything from scratch, our teams were vocal about where the time would come from to achieve this.
“With the skill-set our new team brings, smarter working processes and training, we’ve enabled it to happen. We’ve also assessed and tested dishes, ensuring there are not too many elements to overwhelm service.”
Our charity has learned a lot working with Enfield Catering about the challenges caterers face and how they can make progressive change. It’s confirmed to us even more that if we want to improve school food, training is the vital ingredient.
There also needs to be enthusiasm to introduce fresh produce - either at the school or from the caterer.
Head chef Emandy says she is glad her school is doing things differently. “I want all schools to have great catering, because then the kids are eating more healthily,” she said. “Kids eat with their eyes and their nose, so if we start from a young age exposing them to all sorts of good food, we are giving them a good start in life.”
We know many schools offer brilliant, freshly-made school food - but we’re also too often invited in by schools where processed and frozen food are the norm.
We want every child to eat great fresh food at school. We want every school kitchen team to be well-trained and invested in. Research shows if you improve school food, you improve social mobility, health and attainment.
Kids are our future, we say let’s feed them like it. To find out more about our work, visit: chefsinschools.org.uk