Eastbury Community School
Eastbury Community School, Barking
Our catering team at Eastbury Community School are a real credit to BD Together, which was affirmed when they were shortlisted for the Secondary School Team of the Year category in the LACA Awards for Excellence in 2020.
The team at Eastbury Community School work hard to produce a varied, interesting lunch offering to students, all whilst still putting sustainability and the environment at the forefront of everything they do. The lunch area has recently been redesigned to include ‘street food bars’ to great success.
The BD Together catering team at Eastbury Community School have a real passion for preparing a wide range of healthy meals for the pupils at the school.
In additional to providing lunches, they also provide breakfast and supply healthy packed meals for the children who attend the afterschool club. They are constantly on the go and even with the high number of students, the team never get fazed, are enthusiastic and always work with a smile.
Lunchtime at the heart of this school and the team are always looking at ways of changing the offering in line with current trends and the needs of the students. Flexibility is the key to what they offer. The food is always made from fresh, locally sourced ingredients.
The concept of mealtimes was recently changed with the kitchen team and the school working together to make the food service area look trendier and more appealing with the addition of ‘street food bars’. These included Sub Station, World Street, Chicken Shed and The Diner. These new food bars showcase favourite meals that have been requested at the Student Council meetings and are diverse to cover all the different ethnicities of the student population at Eastbury Community School.
Our Cook Supervisor attends the monthly Student Council meetings and through being able to regularly listen to the students and share ideas, is able to constantly ensure the food options are popular with the students. This regularly liaison with the Student Council has become an integral part of the menu planning.
Sustainability and reducing the school’s carbon footprint are high on the agenda for the catering team and for the Student Council. Last year the environment was the main agenda item at the meetings and as a result, the following initiatives have been introduced:
- Food deliveries are made in reusable crates.
- Elimination of the use of single use plastics. Water bottles were purchased for each child and water stations installed around the school.
- Recycling and food waste bins have been installed throughout the school, in the playground and in the kitchen. The food waste bins enabled the team to assess the amount of food that was being wasted and then introduce initiatives that have successfully and significantly reduced food wastage. This included encouraging the students to ask for the portions size that they know they will eat, ensuring perishable goods are first in/first out and arranging for food waste is collected by a specialist company to be turned into fertiliser. If takeaway containers are used, they are biodegradable and are disposed of in the recycling bins provided.
In the secondary school, children with special needs were given the opportunity to come to the lunch hall before the general school population so they could get their lunch first and with extra assistance from the team if needed. These students had the opportunity to develop good relationships with the catering staff and even taught them sign language for the different food options. The team and the students now communicate with each other using sign language every lunchtime!
During the lockdowns Eastbury Community remained open to the children of keyworkers. During this time the catering team offered both hot and cold meals to everyone, spending a lot of time making sure that the meals they provided were what the students wanted whilst still being healthy.
The catering team at Eastbury Community School is a shining example of how a dedicated team can help the children and young people in our borough to get a right start in life. They do this by building good relationships with the children, ensuring they receive enjoyable, healthy nutritious meals that cater for every need whilst still being conscious of the environment and their surroundings.
“I am incredibly proud of the Eastbury Catering team. They all have their individual specialisms and together create a truly special lunch offering. As a client I am happy with the service that we are given and all the team go above and beyond our expectations. They are always willing to go the extra mile, the students are happy and the food always looks delicious.”
DAVID DICKSON, EXECUTIVE HEADTEACHER, EASTBURY COMMUNITY SCHOOL