Education Today Education Today Magazine
William Ford Junior School in Dagenham, Essex has transformed its lunchtime provision with apetito, easing pressure on staff while improving pupil health, wellbeing and engagement.
The school, which is committed to supporting pupils to be ‘successful, healthy, fulfilled and empowered to make a difference’, faced growing challenges with its in-house catering model due to staffing reductions and increasing regulatory demands.
Headteacher David Huntingford said: “We were placing more demands on our catering team with new rules and regulations coming out. We wanted more from them, but they had less time to do it in. It was not sustainable.”
Working closely with the school, apetito introduced a simple, flexible solution reducing operational pressure while maintaining high nutritional standards.
Sarah Gladden, School Business Manager, said: “Since being with apetito there’s less pressure on our catering staff. It’s just a case of ensuring hygiene standards in the kitchen and making sure the meals are cooked, it’s very straightforward. When other staff need to cover, it’s very simple to follow.”
The streamlined approach has also created new opportunities beyond the kitchen. The school’s catering manager now delivers regular cookery lessons to pupils, helping to build essential life skills and promote healthier habits.
“It’s given our catering manager an opportunity to come out of the kitchen and run cooking lessons with pupils, which also positively impacts our budget by helping with teacher cover,” added Sarah Gladden.
David emphasised how the school has embraced this opportunity to better educate children: “With the school having a high level of obesity and physical health of the pupils being a concern, I took the decision that now is the time to teach the children how to cook healthy, nutritious meals at home.
“Our school cook now takes every class for a cookery lesson once every three weeks. Children really enjoy it and parents are also reporting that children are now eating healthier foods at home and are keen to try out their new cookery skills.”
The impact of apetito’s nutritionally balanced meals is felt across the school day, from improved energy levels to greater focus in the classroom.
“The impact of having delicious, nutritious food for our pupils can be seen in many areas. Whether that’s how they play at lunchtime, their energy in the afternoon and the fact they’re no longer hungry. Their bellies are full and they’re ready to go back to the classroom and learn,” David added.
Pupils themselves have noticed the difference too. When asked how they like apetito’s meals they said:
“Very delicious, nutritious and healthy. It will be good for your body and it will help you move around more.”
“They are nice, they fill me up for learning. It’s better for you to learn and for your body to feel good, you don’t want to be hungry.”
The school has also praised the partnership and apetito’s ongoing support.
“The quality of support and service from apetito is really good. They don’t shy away from any challenges we present them; they’re always there on the phone if we need them and often visit when we ask them to review the service. I would recommend apetito to any school that is looking to switch to a new catering solution.” said Sarah.
The transformation has been clear across the school, with David adding that “apetito makes a real difference to our school.”
To find out more, visit: apetito.link/Education-Today
