Return to onsite school kitchens as city contract changes hands

Sheffield Council has signed a new contract with meals provider Taylor Shaw, which will take over the city’s school dinners service from current provider Chartwells on Monday, August 1.

The company will be in charge of cooking meals for 121 schools across the city which have opted into the contract, including a number of secondaries, primaries, special schools, nurseries and children’s centres.

Over the next five years Taylor Shaw plans to bring back on-site cooking to all schools which currently do not have kitchens, and it has also pledged to use local suppliers to provide ingredients wherever possible.

The service manager for the School Food Service at Sheffield Council, Leah Barratt, said: “Taylor Shaw provided an excellent proposal which embraced schools’ requirements regarding flexibility and a more bespoke approach to school meals.

“The proposals showed a strong commitment to partnership working, including regular consultation with parents, children and young people, schools and the authority.

“We are confident that this new partnership will transform school meals across the city and will significantly increase school meal take up.”

Although Sheffield Council still has to agree the price of school meals for the next school year, it said it would keep the price to “an acceptable level”.

The authority also says it wishes to increase the number of pupils opting to eat school dinners, and has been consulting with schools across Sheffield since February 2010 to find out what they want to see from the new contract.

Sheffield Council also conducted a survey between May and August last year so parents could play a role in influencing which of the four bidders was selected.

A number of headteachers, a chairman of governors and school business managers then all took part in evaluating the proposals submitted by the bidders, to reach the final decision.

The headteacher at Dore Primary School, Sue Hopkinson, said: “Personally, and for my school, I am very happy with the choice of Taylor Shaw as it demonstrated a personal touch to the whole structure of provision of food for Sheffield schools and impressed me with its systems for ensuring the very highest standards of service for our children.

“I am looking forward to working with Taylor Shaw to find the best fit menus and service for our families.”

The managing director of Taylor Shaw, Jim Lovett, added: “We are delighted to become the preferred partner for the Sheffield Schools Group.

“It is clear that there is significant potential in Sheffield and we very much look forward to working with all stakeholders in raising the awareness of a quality meal service, and increasing uptake levels.”

Mr Lovett said that the organisation’s proposals will focus on “transforming the school meals service in Sheffield by establishing the right quality of fresh food and menu offer for individual schools”.

He said that Taylor Shaw will also provide training for catering teams in schools and put “innovative solutions” in place to replace the system whereby some dinners are currently cooked off-site and then delivered to schools from outside.

Mr Lovett added: “The feedback we have had so far from the council and individual schools has been fantastic.

“There is a real commitment to our transformation plans and we look forward to delivering significant improvements in uptake levels in Sheffield over the months and years to come.”

Taylor Shaw already has contracts with Sheffield schools including Silverdale, Talbot and Newfield and Parkwood Academy.