NEW CATERING FACILITIES FOR CITY OF LONDON ACADEMY
“When a child leaves, I don’t want them to feel they are at a disadvantage against children whose parents have spent in excess of £50,000 on their education in private schools.” Martyn Coles, Principal, City of London Academy.
Academies are a new kind of school and always intended for difficult, low performing areas.
The City of London Academy, Paterson Park, Bermondsey, is a totally new school for 11-19 year olds provides up to 1200 pupils from the Bermondsey area with high quality, state of the art facilities.
Headmaster Martyn Coles has 25 years in education, with nine as Headmaster in Tower Hamlets. He took a failing school where 85 per cent of pupils were on free meals and turned it into the 7th best in England in terms of exam results.
SCHOOL CATERING
Some 70% percent of pupils take up the offer of school lunch (38% free). “But what really shows the quality,” says Coles, “is that three quarters of the staff take school lunches. I had a meal at Carluccio’s recently – but the penne pasta from the kitchen here compared well with that.”
The food offering starts with breakfast for the early arrivals, then at the 10.15 breaktime there is the offer of muffins and rolls, which has a “high take up”; followed by a split lunch session “always the option of salad” to accommodate the numbers. A cashless card system is used, which also contains the pupils and teacher’s school ID.
The tender for the school meals contract, managed by Vic Laws FCSI, was won by Harrison Catering on the basis of “best value”.
Chef Manager Fredrik Delfs – who previously worked at GlaxoSmithKline and Rio Tinto – says, “I knew nothing about school catering. I treat the pupils as I would customers in a staff restaurant.”
The lunch menu features no chips – the fryer is not used – and offers three courses including a noodle or pasta dish, vegetarian and meat or fish options, jacket potatoes, always the salad option and a cold offer of baguettes and sandwiches – the ham for which is bought in, cooked whole and hand sliced.
Mozzarella, baby spinach & tomato is one of the daily baguette ‘specials’.
All drinks are water, juice or milk based and the pupils are allowed water in class – bringing the benefit of better attention spans in the afternoons especially.
The kitchen, designed by kitchen design consultant Derek White FCSI, operates with nine staff plus chef.
Hallmark’s contribution was a seamless installation: “The kitchen was delivered to us before the deadline,” says Martyn Coles, “Fredrik the chef was very complimentary – the kitchen and the whole building are excellent.”
