Council catering team secures regional training award

The Council's in-house catering team has won the North East award for the large employer category in the prestigious National Training Awards. The award recognises the Council's investment in training which has led to school cooks gaining new skills and boosting their confidence in delivering healthier school meals as well as encouraging healthier eating in the community. Councillor Jim Foreman, Lead Member for Children and Young People, said: "We are incredibly proud of our catering service. It really deserves this recognition. It is not an easy award to win and the team underwent very rigorous judging so the staff have done extremely well. "The knowledge they have gained from the training brings an extra level of quality to our Catering Service. They are doing a great job in providing healthy, interesting meals for our children and young people whilst also encouraging them to make healthier choices. The training has also made a vital contribution to a healthier South Tyneside community. "Congratulations to all those who have been so keen to extend their skills and have worked so hard to achieve this excellent award." The Catering Service provides 12,000 lunches a day at 70 schools, three children's centres and two staff restaurants across the Borough. Training has included healthy eating workshops for mums, foster carers, teachers and school lunchtime supervisors, Eatwell workshops for excluded teenagers, basic nutrition workshops for mums as well as hygiene management and culinary masterclasses for cooks. A total of 87 catering officers and senior kitchen personnel successfully completed a NVQ Level 2 in Health and Nutrition and 280 kitchen assistants completed NVQ Level 1 in Promoting a Healthier Schools Meals Service. A further 35 cooks completed the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health Level 3 Supervising Food Safety. Councillor Foreman said: "For years caterers cooked and served meals without the necessary knowledge and understanding of basic nutrition and pupils were rarely guided on making wise meal choices and given reasons why they should. "Our investment in workforce development and training has helped us to get the messages across and has led to a better service. Over the last two years, we have also seen an increase in the number of children eating school meals. "I'm delighted that our Catering Service is really moving forward and achieving such positive results with more satisfied and skilled workers and happily fed school children." Qualifications in hygiene, catering and nutrition-based courses were provided by City of Sunderland College. Ed Clarke, Area Leader in Hospitality, Catering, Retail and Cleaning at City of Sunderland College, said: "Our Business Solutions team deliver tailored services covering a range of business needs. We provide assistance and training, giving employers in the region the opportunity to make the most of their staff. "The vocational courses on offer form part of the Business Solutions programme at the college, which offers a variety of qualifications to enable employers to train their workforce on their own premises." The National Training Awards are given to organisations in the public and private sector, which can demonstrate how their training programmes have made a positive and measurable impact on their customers and employees. The awards are run by UK Skills on behalf of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and are sponsored by City & Guilds.