18.05.05 - Fresh Organic Dinners For Pupils - back
Fresh Organic Dinners For Pupils
By Alison Kershaw
Epping Forest Guardian (UK)
13th May 2005
A PARTNERSHIP with Ashlyns Organic Farm, Bobbingworth, and a little help from "super" dinner lady Jeanette Orrey is introducing pupils at Oak View School, Loughton, to the delights of freshly produced school dinners.
Pre-packaged offerings are now off the school lunch menu, and organic vegetables, fruit and meat are in.
Catering manager Diane Rawlinson and assistant Susie Beager have had their work cut out catering for 80 pupils but have had the assistance of Mrs Orrey, who led the way in introducing fresh food to school dinners long before celebrity chef Jamie Oliver set foot in a school kitchen.
She was at the school to show Mrs Rawlinson and Mrs Beager how to adapt their working practices to the new methods.
Formerly catering manager at a Nottinghamshire primary school for many years, where she brought catering in-house and got pupils to eat healthily, Mrs Orrey is now school meals policy advisor to the Soil Association and travels the country encouraging cooks at other schools.
Mrs Rawlinson said the first week was hard work, but rewarding.
She said: "It's giving us a lot of pride in what we're doing.
"We're putting on things like spaghetti bolognese, roast lamb and apple pie. It takes a lot longer to do, but I don't mind hard work. At the end of the day the results are that the children are getting a proper meal."
Oak View's new regime has been introduced on the back of a Healthy School initiative which led headteacher Steve Armstrong to approach Ashlyns Organic Farm last year.
He said: "We were looking at ways to implement the initiative and also recognised that lunch is an important meal of the day for our pupils. We felt that by forming a relationship with the source of food production, we could help our pupils to understand better the importance of food and of nutrition."
The partnership was formed last September and school governors formally gave the green light last November.
Parents and carers are charged £1.70, with 75p spent on the cost of ingredients for each meal.
For pupils to get used to the new foods they have visited Ashlyns, and farm representatives have attended the school, helping the youngsters with their own food production, and supporting learning about organic food production and its benefits.
Gary Stokes, from Ashlyns Farm, said their involvement was part of the farm's new Feeding Our Future project.
As well as providing ingredients and offering assistance where necessary the farm plans to open a training centre this year, working with Mrs Orrey, to offer schools and cooks training and advice on budgets, planning and cooking meals.
Mr Armstrong said: "We feel very positive about the fact that food is now properly prepared and cooked from locally sourced foods and are excited about what our partnership with Ashlyn's will offer our children and young people in future."
