Druga Ionela Larisa,

II B, Texte, group 2.

The School Food Plan Sheila Dillon investigates:

While the first of these a thousand children arrive for breakfast of the day that
young community academy fresh lunch prep has started. The academy sits on a
low hill, a huge oval of glass wooden concrete handsome in its landscape
surroundings. Hits high parameters fence with electronic locks is the only
immedious side that one of a thoughest areas of leads. Its an academy sponsored
by the church of England but is opened equaly to all faiths and none. And when
opened seven years ago under the same head and management team eleaded now
food, good food was one of the pillars of this schools philosophy.
When you are trying to create a culture of care and love that really supports
students food is a marvelous way to do that.
How they ve made that happened and how theyve put food at the central school
life is the story well be telling in this program:
The plan itself was put forward in July by john Vincent and Henry Dimbelby and
its all about getting more children eating school food, improving whats on the
table and dealing at root with a major health crisis. After visiting over 60 schools in
England John and Henry felt that there were three things that linked all the schools
that were getting food right.
1: They concentrate on the things children care about. Good food, attractive
environment, social life, price and brand.
2: They addopt what is often called in the jurggen a whole school approach. This
is actually simplified here, but an important one it means treating a dining hall as a
principal part of school where children and teachers eat lunch as part as the school
day, the cooks are important staff members and food is a vital element of school
life.

3: They have a head teacher who leads the change.

Rose McMillan is the academys principal. Shes been working on and at the
school since the school foundation was made. One highly unusual thing about the
school is that no services apart from 24 h 365 day outside security were
outsourced. Cleaners, kitchen staff, everybody in on salary, and the living wage,
not the minimum wage is basic pay. I was about that policy. Its a rare school , I
thing to all the schools where kitchen staff and teaching staff are on the same level.
yeah, why wouldnt we be? We are doing the same vital job, for the same
purpose, to nurture the children and to do the best for them so there in nobody
more important than anybody else in the academy .
As the kitchen gears up for breakfast, upstairs, downstairs, the senior management
meet. Someones broughten a cake, and coffee cups are charged.
Before Linn got going I asked her why good food was put at the heart of the
academy from de beginning.
We were absolutely convinced that the food would be the centre af everything we
did. We do have a number of different cultures here and food is a way of sharing
and accepting those cultures along with music of course that is another thing that
we use. Its also a way of making a shouette when the children are here particulary
when they got breakfast. It starts the day well, have wonderful wonderful lunches
so they can learn and have time to think and spend time with eachother around the
tables with the staff and with the children.
The academys restaurant is a really welcoming space, bond with tables ans chairs,
its airy, there are high ceilings, its inviting, a bit prt a manger, a bit
starbucks. Its a grown up place to share a meal. A group of six described it best:
its got big bear windows on it so it lets a lot of light in ; green walls ; the
space is really spacious, its like you feel at home really; its a massive social
area where is a lot of inspiration, theres just a lot of joy in it ; there is quotes on
the walls that inspire you ; building is a lot more than functional spaces, they are
means of expressing the values and beliefs of us, who created them. Without a
doubt, yes, its true .

Theres a common assumption that academies are privileged, that lifes easier for
them than other schools. And its an assumption I put to principal Rose McMillan.
that assumption just payed long anyway because we are one of the original
academies so we are massively privileged in that we got the new building. Thats it
and off. Actually the students here came from the two worst schools in Leeds we
replaced and all thousand students came on day one. The building is the one that
make us say we are massively privileged, we have a great building and we are very
very grateful for that but we are funded in the exactly same way that there is any
other school. We are independent now, I dont have to do what authorities want us
to do, I can do it in the way I think it best suits those students. I think that
independence is a huge privilege.
A lot of the kitchen staff came directly from two failing schools that the academy
replaced. It was a big change in all sorts of ways. My name is Susan Smith and I
used to work at Agnes Steward Highschool. When Agnes Steward was closed we
were transferred to the academy in 2006 so Ive been here since it opened
basically. Agnes Steward was cheese rolls, pizza, crisps, chocolate, fizzy drinks for
breakfast, thats what it was, it was nothing like this. And now the students come
and find fresh orange juice and cereals and in the winter we do porridge and fresh
orange juice every day and they absolutely love it.
At that breakfast, free to all, teachers serve the food to their students.
While Im doing breakfast Im also doing panninis for lunch. So Im going to get
the panninis out now. I really like to be organized.
Music marks the changes in the day. Between 8:30 and 10:30 there are a thousand
students eating breakfast and lessons such as design technology go on.
So Im taking you down to the restaurant now which is going towards the final
preparations because breakfast is finished so everybody in the academy have had
breakfast so the staff will be getting the time for lunch to be done. It always been
called the restaurant, never the canteen, never the dining hall. Sometimes it gets
called dining by accident but we make an effort to call it the restaurant so the
children use to call it the restaurant so that why we are making an effort to call it
like that.

it looks like a restaurant. And when you look around, a thousand people had
breakfast here. When we first opened the children were not used to it and it was
quite hard to keep it look like that.
today is Thursday so we have panninis, kids love the panninis, meat balls and
tomatoes, spaghetti served with mushrooms and baked custard with fresh compote.
The whole meal is 1.8 pounds or its a free school meal. And we dont portion
control so there is no hunger. The salad is important because kids do not eat salad
at all but now they love it.
Its interesting whats here, spring onions, tomatoes, beetroots, grated carrots, and
olive oil to put on it, fresh basil
I introduce you to our head chef, Russel.
How seriously did you take your pointing as head chef?
We were surprised to see how easy it is to get high quality food actually. We were
so lucky to get chef Richard who got it, who just got it. He understood the vision
straight away.
What did he get?
That we wanted our students to get the very best to be successful in society and
that food will be central to that.
When we started we tried to get as far as possible in having local suppliers and as
much fresh products locally. Meatballs today , they are not frozen, they are freshly
made yesterday from lovely pork, lovely beef, we use local food.
The restaurant is made such a way that every child should remain seated as they
are eating and that means that nobody gets hurried.
I gathered that sometimes you got children who are either on the food scheme or
getting pre-packed lunches from home. When you got a number of students to
feed, how do you manage that? How do you pay for that?
Well, we just, we subsidize food here.

My name is Adam Bashier and Im the director of finance for the Leeds academy
trust.
We are trying to understand how the food part of the academy is financed. Can you
outline how the economics of this work?
It is founded in two parts: the first part is about children who want free school
meals. For these free school meals we get a part of our founding from the
Department of Education. And they found us for a certain unit per child based on
free school meals.
What percentage of these pupils are on free school meals and whats your income
for that?
the percentage of kids qualified for free school meals in 59% of our school which
is quite high comparing to other schools Im aware of. We are founded in region of
550 000 pounds per year for those 59% percent of students we have, so its not an
inconsiderable sum of money but we do feed a lot of students. And there is the
other part of the students who pay for their school meals and the founds we get for
that part is quite negligible. So we average about 750 000 pounds per year .
How much does catering cost?
Catering cost us about 700 000 pounds a year. Catering and staffing is a part of
that key area so we have to deal with those bits first and then worry about the other
parts.
A lot of people listening will not have the advantage of building something from
the ground up what can they take from your experience?
If it is too big to do it yourself get into a partnership an do it that way because you
need to have control over it.
You think your control over this is the key to what works in this school?
yes, I dont have to talk with some manager if I want something to happen , I just
say I want that and it happens.
Those meatballs were as good as any Ive got in some Italian restaurants. I was
really struck by the amount of freedom that chef Richard has, to be a chef.

What s changed is people realization that food has a fantastic part to play in the
curriculum. I was at a school in Derbyshire this week who has a Parliament, a
Minister of food (this is a primary school) and they have meetings with the heads
and with the cook and with everybody else. They looked at that plan and said that
food actually goes into English, food goes into Mathematics, food goes into
History and the children absolutely love it.
Do you think the School Food Plan will trigger the changes that we need in food?
I think it will help more our teachers to understand how you can make food an
integral part of the school day.
You know more about whats going on with school food that anybody really. What
are you seeing on the ground, what are you seeing in those schools now?
I have visited 200 schools. Now what I am seeing in lot of the schools is that
cooks feel valued, what they didnt before, what Im seeing is people working
together which we didnt see before, what Im seeing is cooks and catering staff
and lunch time supervisors working as a team. There are improvements to be made
and thats what School Food Plan is all about. I believe it will create a wave and
thats what you need.