Kathryn Morrell, head of Pre-Prep, Andrew Marshall-Taylor, head of Prep School and Kevin Howells, director at Palmer & Howells, recently cut a ribbon to officially open the dining room and celebrate the completion of the refurbishment which had been jointly undertaken by the school and the catering operator.
Kevin Howells, director at Palmer & Howells, said: “The pupils are really enjoying the newly refurbished dining room and we have had some great feedback from them already.
“Our aim is to encourage children to adopt a healthy approach to meal times by not only providing nutritious and tasty meals but by explaining why it’s good to eat healthily through visual displays, cookery demonstrations, learning more about where their food comes from and tastings.”
The opening of the dining room opening also marks the recent three-year contract extension for Palmer & Howells to cater for more than 700 pupils at Monkton Combe School. The contract is worth over £3m and the terms include an investment programme in the dining operation.
The Palmer & Howells Eat Smart brand has been used to refresh the dedicated dining space for the pupils in reception and years 1 to 4.
As part of the opening celebrations the pupils put forward their ideas for what should be their first meal in the new dining room. They chose hot dogs and ice cream.
Howells said: “The catering team took this idea and created a freshly prepared meal using the school’s local supplier base with the aim of making the celebratory meal as healthy as possible.”
Bath Bakery has created a range of 50/50 (wholemeal and white) freshly baked breads, which was used as the hot dog bun. The chipolatas were supplied by Philip Dennis from its Devon & Cornwall range of West Country products.
All the vegetables, salad and fruits on the menu were sourced through Lovejoys of Melksham. A salad bar providing a selection of salads and freshly prepared vegetables are on offer each lunchtime to encourage healthy food selection.
The children were then served Very Vanilla individual tubs of ice cream from Marshfield Farm made using 60% organic milk, combined with double cream and real vanilla pods sprinkled throughout.
Kathryn Morrell from Monkton Pre-Prep, said: “We are delighted with the new room which is bright and inviting.
“It creates a lovely welcome for our pupils and provides a warm and relaxed eating environment which is so very important, especially for the younger children.”