London Primary Schools: Are You Ready For Universal Free School Meals?
Ten years on from the introduction of the universal infant free school meal programme the final piece of the school meal puzzle has been placed. From September 2023 the Mayor of London, Sidiq Khan has announced funding so that every London primary school pupil (reception through to year six) can have a free, nutritious school meal at lunchtime. Whilst the benefits of this scheme are undeniable, for some schools it may have implications for the school’s kitchen and catering team’s capacity.
Most schools today have the facilities to provide pupils with a meal whilst at school, there are however inconsistencies with the size of school kitchens and the quality of food preparation and cooking equipment.
Catering Facilities Review
School meal uptake, especially with large schools could significantly increase overnight, with some schools potentially seeing meal numbers doubling. Our catering service review service will provide your school with the necessary information to determine if changes to the kitchen facilities are required to meet the increase in numbers of pupils entitled to a free school meal.
Our catering facility review will consider the following:
Potential pupil meal uptake increase based on current UIFSM and benefit based free school meal uptake.
If the catering team have the correct tools for the job? Modern, efficient and user-friendly food preparation equipment saves time and increase efficiency?
Is the school’s current cooking equipment sufficient for demand? Current oven capacity and efficiency reviewed.
Refrigeration capacity – Are extra fridges, freezer cabinets required?
Servery counter and dining room – How to manage increased throughput.
Staffing – we will advise on the correct number of catering staff to meet pupil demand.
Our specialist consultancy support will ensure your catering service is ready for the new free primary school meal rollout.
Following our kitchen facilities review our ongoing support ranges from remote ad-hoc advice to hands-on in-school catering operation support and monitoring.