Visiting Sholing Junior’s School Council

Our Operations and Food Development team were recently welcomed to Sholing Junior School to meet with their School Council and pupil representatives to listen to their feedback about our school meals!

Visiting school councils is a perfect way for our teams to learn more about young people’s thoughts around school food and also offers us a great opportunity to share more about what goes into putting their meals on the plate. Perfect slice of education for everyone!

So what did they want to tell us?

They let us know that they would like more pizza toppings and more condiments, like tomato ketchup and salt. Pizza is a favourite across the city, with over 80% of children opting for Pizza on Pizza days, so no surprises there! There are some wished for toppings that we advised can’t be added, as we follow the School Food Plan’s guidance very closely to ensure that pupils get the best possible meals - but there are some toppings and different condiments that we can include in future, and are already underway making happen.

They also asked for different potato options, like sweet potato, more variety in salad and even more Japanese food options - brilliant requests and all things we can serve up easily and include in future menus.

We were also glad that they requested more vegetarian options. We have recently increased the number of vegetarian options in the menu, with Wednesdays offering just meat-free dishes. This is part of our aims to support the reduction in meat, as part of the National Food Strategy and support in regards to climate change!

Getting children involved in food and where food comes from is also something we are really supportive of, which is why we were delighted to hear that they are keen to visit some suppliers, and learn more about what happens before their meals are dished up! Hopefully we can support that happening soon for Sholing Junior pupils.

The pupils were also big fans of our Theme Days and requested even more! We have plenty this year, so we hope that they will enjoy tasting new dishes and exploring a variety of cultural, historical, and celebratory menus during the year. They were lucky to have already enjoyed both Burns Night and Chinese New Year Theme Lunches this term!

Mr Abbott, Sholing Junior’s Headteacher let us know how they found it:

“I would just like to say how popular the latest special menus have been. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sample the Scottish Menu but the Chinese food recently was outstanding and children have continued to talk about it throughout this week!”

We loved visiting Sholing Junior, and its great to have already made some small changes for them as a result - some things we can’t change as our Food Standards are of course very important, but the session allows us to ensure that young people understand these aspects too. We’ve been invited back to share tasters with parents at their up-and-coming Parents Evening - opportunities that we always enjoy getting involved in so parents and families can know more about their child’s school lunches!

Thank you Sholing Junior!

“Thanks for all your support and the lovely food. I really think the quality has been the best ever this year - and of course, during tough times.” - Mr Abbott, Headteacher

Hearing from young people, and giving them to opportunity to shape their school lunch experience is really important to us. As part of our support of the Child Friendly City initiative we are keen to visit more School Councils and hear direct from young people about their feedback.

Schools can request a visit here, and children (and the wider community) can give feedback here.