28th Mar 2012 - 00:00
Abstract
Sodexo, a leading food and facilities management services provider, brought together a group of primary school head teachers from Bromley in Kent to provide advice and guidance on various challenges teachers face on a day-to-day basis.
Opening the proceedings, Sodexo ambassador, former English rugby union player Matt Dawson, spoke on the importance of staff and pupil engagement, and described the leadership skills needed to build a successful team, illustrating his examples with his experiences as a World Cup winning rugby player. Liaising with both parents and children is something head teachers and their teams have to do on a daily basis and to help attendees develop positive relationships with families, Sodexo invited Carolyn and Pat Morrissey, co-founders of Side by Side to talk about their programme designed to support parents, pupils and primary schools by engaging parents and their children to explore issues, in order to work more effectively with schools. In 2011 Sodexo became the first company within its sector to become a corporate member of LEAF (Linking Farming And Environment), and through the partnership many fruit and vegetable product lines Sodexo use within schools are LEAF accredited. Jeremy Boxhall, commercial manager at LEAF, explained the benefits of its partnership with Sodexo and the additional opportunities the partnership offers schools, including farm visits which help children understand where the food on their plate comes from. Jane Bristow, managing director, Sodexo Education said: "Events such as these are a real opportunity for us to engage with local schools and to share our wealth of knowledge, resource and relationships, helping them to look at the bigger picture, outside of the classroom. The health and wellbeing of their pupils and their families should be on the agenda as much as the curriculum. " John Paddington, head teacher of Chislehurst (St Nicholas) Church of England Primary School, commented: "Once again thank you Sodexo for organising the heads' symposium - a nice balance and variance of speakers, with Matt being fascinating as well as inspiring, LEAF also interesting and providing ideas for future engagement with environment to aid children's learning, and Pat and Carolyn with some very wise and practical approaches to parenting issues. I will definitely tell the others what they missed out on."