Staff and pupils at a Worle school will be marking the
official reopening of their school kitchen with the visit from a
celebrity chef.
Following the sudden failure of several key pieces of equipment
in the St Martin's school kitchen last summer, it was closed and an
urgent refit organised to bring it up to standard and back into use
as soon as possible. The new facility, which has cost £85,000 was
up and running in good time for the pupils to enjoy a Christmas
lunch cooked in their revamped kitchen.
The refurbished kitchen has seen the removal of nearly all the
old equipment, new floor and wall coverings and the installation of
state of the art, energy efficient, new cooking equipment including
two 10 grid combination ovens, three standard ovens and a new
ventilation and extraction system. The transformation from a old,
inefficient facility (kept going by the care and commitment of the
catering staff) to a new 21st century facility has been
remarkable.
To celebrate the reopening of the kitchen Rob Rees, known as the
Cotswold Chef, who is Chair of the School Food Trust, will be
joining pupils and parents from St Martins in a special event where
Rob will talk about the benefits of school food and officially
opening the new kitchen.
Lynda Mitchell, our commissioning and contract manager and current
Chair of LACA (Local Authority catering Association) said that the
project had been completed in a short space of time thanks to
people working well together.
"I'm really pleased with how so many different professionals
from so many companies and council departments came together to
design, agree, plan implement and install a new facility is a
relatively short period of time. Everyone recognised how important
a fresh, hot school lunch is to the pupils and ensure we all did
what we could to turn this around in record time.
"To have a unusable kitchen replaced with such a fantastic new
facility is a tremendous achievement which is already benefiting
the pupils and staff at St Martins, so a big thank you need to go
to all involved."
Rob will be talking to the children about the importance of
healthy eating and having fruit and veg in your diet. A
ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place to mark the official
opening of the new kitchen and there will also be the chance for
the children to sample unusual fruit and vegetables and
smoothies-tasting will also be on offer at mid morning break.
Parents of children in Reception and Year 4 have been invited to
come along and sample lunch on the day.
Those involved in the kitchen refurb at the school include
Willmott Dixon, John Perkins, ABM Catering for Leisure, Hurleys,
Highadmit, Edwards & Ward, school-based staff and numerous
members of our staff.
