12,000 Christmas school lunches served across Southampton!
The Christmas lunch is one of the most popular meals in the school meal calendar, and our teams delivered some incredible festive magic for Southampton school pupils - serving 12,202 Christmas lunches.
After a term with Covid, Brexit and various supply chain challenges that continue to add pressure to the hospitality and catering sector, we are so proud of everyone's involvement in making a truly memorable experience for our school communities.
Our menu this year included a classic Turkey roast with all the trimming - sprouts included! - together with a brand new vegetarian option of a chickpea, cranberry sauce and sweet potato parcel. Both meals follow our Food for Life Bronze Award meaning that they are locally and seasonally sourced, nutritious and full of goodness.
"The Christmas parcels yesterday were absolutely fantastic, everyone loved them - it was a real pleasure making them, thank you for the great recipes" - Ann, Head of Kitchen
Whilst Covid continues to impact some schools and their dinning environment, all teams pulled out all the stops to ensure the pupils enjoyed themselves complete with festive outfits, decorations and themed puddings - Christmas fully wrapped, complete the cherry on top!
"Louise and the kitchen team did a superb job presenting and cooking the lunch for everyone. The quality was great and lovely to have cranberry sauce and parsnips to add to the dinner. The best Christmas dinner ever!" - Mr Peterson, Headteacher at Bitterne CE Primary
We were fortunate to be supported by toob this year, in helping us deliver plates and crockery in readiness, making sure all pupils, no matter their school Covid protocols or meal numbers could enjoy the experience.
Rachel Hall, CEO commented that “The Christmas lunch really shows the power of food in bringing community together - something that is so important in recent times. Thank you to everyone - kitchen teams, school communities and support staff for making it happen this year, yet again!”
We host several theme days in our schools celebrating various events in the school calendar through good food, with Christmas being our most popular meal of the year. Look out for the next celebratory theme menu in your child’s school and get involved in exploring new dishes, different flavours and marking the occasion together.
Below is a collection of images shared from our school teams!
Bassett Green:
Bitterne CE
Fairisle Jr:
Regents Park Community College:
Sinclair:
Holy Family:
Kanes Hill:
Mansbridge:
Mansel Park:
Swaythling:
Thornhill:
