London School FEAST announcement

Training is on the menu: Three new skills centres for school cooks open in London

The School FEAST Network expands to incorporate 3 new centres in London

Enfield Catering Services, Greenwich Co-operative Development Agency and Westminster Kingsway College will today join the School Food Trust’s School FEAST Network of training centres across England.  They will join existing School FEAST Network member Thames Valley University to help transform the way school cooks in the city develop the skills they need to ensure school meals are of the highest quality.

Welcoming the centres, Rosie Boycott, Chair of London Food, said: 'This is excellent news for thousands of school-children in London who are set to benefit from tasty, healthy food prepared by top-notch school cooks.'

The three new centres will add to the 26 centres nationwide training kitchen staff for thousands of schools throughout the country, helping to ensure that more children and young people eat a healthy lunch every day. The four London centres will offer a wide range of courses for schools in the region, covering everything from food preparation and cooking, food safety and kitchen management, to support work in schools and nationally recognised qualifications at NVQ Level 2 or above.

The training will also help school cooks meet new nutritional standards which have been mandatory in primary schools since September 2008 and come into effect in secondary schools from September 2009. The 3 new centres will enrol learners on their School FEAST courses from September 2009 and have been established to enhance the courses and facilities available to allow more cooks to be trained at one time.

Prue Leith, Chair of the School Food Trust, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Westminster, Enfield and Greenwich to the School FEAST Network, this is an exciting opportunity for London to support the work the whole network across the country is doing to ensure the standards for school food remain a top priority for everyone. This extension of the School FEAST Network in London will now play a key role in nurturing the school cooks of the future – enhancing the skills of kitchen staff for hundreds of schools in the City to help ensure more children eat a healthy lunch every day.”

Claire Pritchard, School FEAST Project Manager for the Greenwich Co-operative Development Agency, said: “I am delighted that Greenwich Co-operative Development Agency has been appointed as a School FEAST centre as it will facilitate development and training by enabling us to build a state of the art training kitchen in which to run much needed instruction. There is a real need in many parts of London for catering training and by providing nationally recognised qualifications alongside our bespoke healthy eating and sustainability training, we can provide a framework for the career development of all kitchen staff.”

The School FEAST Network brings together existing providers of excellence and new and innovative training centres. All centres and partnerships will provide a range of training and development opportunities for the school food workforce. Each will have the flexibility to deliver specialist training to this diverse group.