The IndependentSchool Food Plan

South east school chef takes 2013 crown

Corinne du Preez, the 2013 south east finalist, has taken the title of LACA School Chef of the Year 2013. She was voted Britain’s number one school chef by a panel of judges at the national final held at the food services wing, Defence Logistics School, Worthy Down, Hampshire on 15 May. The competition is organised annually by the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA) and is sponsored by MAGGI® from Nestlé Professional®.

Corinne’s winning dishes were a main course of poached fillet of pollock with Arabic salad and tagine sauce served with coriander and garlic flatbreads, and dessert was a Moroccan date and cinnamon cake.

Corinne used MAGGI® Rich & Rustic Tomato Sauce and MAGGI® Vegetable Bouillon in her main course and Carnation® Evaporated Milk Light and Nestlé® Carnation Caramel in her dessert.

Corinne, 47, is employed by Caterlink for the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead. She is based at Kings Court First School in Old Windsor, Berkshire, preparing around 95 meals a day for 4- to 9-year-olds.

As a mother of four, Corinne recognises the need for children to meet their daily nutritional requirements but at the same time believes that meal times should be fun.

Corinne has a great passion for art and likes to make use of vibrant colours in her cooking. She believes that children eat with their eyes and that meals should be as pleasing to the eye as they are to the palate. Using fresh bright produce is certain to spark their appetites and encourage children to try new foods.

One of Corinne’s career highlights was having the great honour of planning, producing and serving a five course meal to members of the Royal family aboard a private aircraft charter to Moscow.

In her spare time Corinne enjoys water colour landscape painting and baking. She enjoys the creativity of designing and icing children’s birthday cakes.

Super smoothie workshop

On Wednesday 17 April, the whole of Cracoe & Rylstone Primary School had a great time making delicious, healthy smoothies in a special workshop organised for them by expert parent Mrs Butcher. It was amazing!

They all tried at least two or three different smoothies and created their own tasty recipes. They found out just how good the smoothie ingredients were to keep them healthy and how gorgeous they tasted when whizzed together into a super smoothie.

Pupils are all now busy in their English lessons writing the instructions to make into their own ‘Cracoe & Rylstone School smoothie recipe book’ for everyone to buy – watch this space for news about when the book will be published, then you can all get busy and healthy making your own amazing super smoothies too!

Bring home the harvest for British Food Fortnight

British Food Fortnight is inviting all schools in the UK to enter a harvest lottery to win their place in Westminster Abbey this October at this special harvest service.

To enter the lottery, each school needs to create a harvest box that celebrates the food produced in their part of the country. Each harvest box will need to contain fruit and vegetables the children have grown themselves, food they have cooked in class and a selection of food from local producers in their part of the country.

The lottery will encourage children and their families to:

• learn about growing
• learn about cooking
• learn about the food on their doorstep

40 schools will be selected by lottery to join VIPs and a host of celebrities in London’s Westminster Abbey in October for the special British Food Fortnight Harvest Festival service. The schools’ harvest boxes will be presented at the service and distributed to members of the community afterwards.

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall launched the competition on 24th April.

How to take part

Taking part is easy. All schools have to do is create a harvest box brimming with items that represent everything they have learnt about growing, cooking and food local to their area. Activities can take place in after school clubs, during activities weeks, or as part of the curriculum. Each harvest box needs to contain fruit and vegetables the children have grown themselves, food they have cooked in class and a selection of food from local producers in their part of the country.

Learn about growing

Fill your harvest box with fruit and vegetables that the children have grown throughout the year, whether in class or in an after school club. Why not pick your prize vegetables from the school allotment or if you don’t have a school patch, windowsills and pots can be great places to grow herbs and small plants too!

Learn about cooking

Make some delicious treats for your harvest box. Why not have a go at making a harvest loaf or bramble jelly? If you have a local flour or fruit producer you could use their products to make your creations, or you can have a go at producing/collecting your own ingredients?

Learn about the food on your doorstep

Discover your local cheese makers, bakers, condiment makers and butchers and ask them to donate food for your special box. Why not arrange a school visit to the local farm or dairy to see where these local products come from, or arrange an in-school talk by local farmer, fishmonger or greengrocer?

Lottery applications need to be received by the end of the summer term, Wednesday 24 July 2013. Schools will be selected by the end of July and notified by email immediately with confirmation of what they need to do in preparing for the service.

The competition is open to all children over the age of 8, in primary and secondary schools in the UK. Details about how to enter are on available via the link on this page.