A bronze award for our healthy food
St Matthew Academy has been awarded the Food for Life Partnership Bronze Award for our healthy and climate-friendly food culture.
We are working with the Food for Life Partnership to transform the school’s food culture and that of the local community by reconnecting the children with climate-friendly, healthy and real food.
To win the bronze award, we have had to show that we serve seasonal school meals, 75% of which are freshly prepared by our in-house chef Richard Callingham. .
By taking the catering in-house, Richard Callingham has transformed the quality of food at the academy through judicious purchasing, building strong links with local suppliers of eggs, meat and vegetables, and producing varied nourishing meals fresh each day. Some of the ingredients come from the school’s own rooftop garden, where students grow a range of fruit and vegetables.
‘This award confirms the great progress we have made in healthy eating at St Matthew Academy in the four years since we opened,’ says principal Monica Cross. ‘We have found enormous educational dividends from having a better standard of food available for the students. Behaviour has improved as students are now well nourished and it has contributed to better attendance – you shouldn’t underestimate the effect the quality of food has on a child’s desire to come to school. They don’t need to truant to buy food they want to eat.’
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