There’s no doubt that Christmas is going to be a bit different for everyone this year, but thanks to the catering staff of Warwickshire-based school caterers, Educaterers, pupils at Barford St Pe...
There’s no doubt that Christmas is going to be a bit different for everyone this year, but thanks to the catering staff of Warwickshire-based school caterers, Educaterers, pupils at Barford St Peter’s C of E Primary School are enjoying a delicious Christmas lunch this week!
The school’s Catering Supervisor, Lorraine, has worked for the caterers since March 2011, so this will be her tenth year of serving up a school Christmas lunch - but this year will be unlike previous years.
To help stay Covid-19 safe, the school are keeping children in their ‘bubbles’, so Lorraine and her team will be serving up Christmas lunch from their fantastic new kitchen every day of this week to the ‘bubbles’ of pupils.
Educaterers serve, on average, 120 meals to the Barford school’s pupils every day throughout the school year.
On the menu for this year’s Educaterers Christmas dinner is a choice of traditional roast turkey or a Quorn fillet, all served up with the delicious vegetables you’d expect (but no sprouts), followed by a homemade chocolate Christmas cracknell bauble or ice cream.
If you haven’t done your Christmas food shopping yet or decided what you’re going to be cooking on Christmas Day, spare a thought for the employees of Educaterers. Last year, they served a colossal 70,000 school Christmas dinners and expect to do the same this year!
By the end of this week, they’ll have prepared a tasty Christmas lunch for the multiple schools they cater for across Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Birmingham and Oxfordshire, including Barford St Peter’s C of E Primary School.
Educaterers employees have been getting everyone in the mood for Christmas by dressing up and wearing Christmas jumpers and Santa hats to serve the pupils their lunches. Some schools have organised Christmas jumper days on the same day to further raise the levels of excitement!
This year has been far from normal, so Educaterers have been working with individual schools to help them to be Covid-19 safe during lunchtimes.
A number of schools have been asking pupils to eat their lunches in their classrooms or specific areas of their school, rather than in the usual dining room or school hall, so hot and cold ‘deli bags’ have been on offer to help with these arrangements where appropriate.
2020 has been a challenging year for schools and, throughout the first Covid-19 lockdown, when schools remained open to the children of key workers and vulnerable children, pupils continued to receive a delicious school meal everyday thanks to the dedicated staff of Educaterers and other school caterers around the country.
Educaterers employees worked in around 125 schools a day across the region, at any one time, to serve up meals to those children that continued to attend school and to the staff supporting and caring for them.
Terry Tredget, Director of Educaterers said: “My gratitude goes to our dedicated school catering teams who have ended this strangest of years by getting into the festive spirit and offering the children at Barford St Peter’s C of E Primary School, and all our schools, a brilliant Christmas lunch.
“Barford St Peter’s C of E Primary School work very closely with us, ensuring their children receive a great lunchtime experience. The school Christmas atmosphere this year is brilliant, as always.
“All our staff worked hard to continue providing a school meals service during the pandemic and it has been wonderful to see all children enjoying our meals since they returned to school in September.
“The school experience has been a bit different, but our staff have been doing everything they can to help pupils enjoy school again by providing them with a good lunch, including this year’s delicious Christmas dinner.
“I’d like to wish all our staff, schools, pupils and parents a very Happy Christmas and New Year.”
For more information on Educaterers visit www.educaterers.co.uk