We have shared for over twenty years the challenges that local government and teaching professionals have faced to maintain standards in the face of budget constraints.
The experience has made us part of the education community. A partner committed to building enduring relationships right across the education spectrum. We think and act as stakeholders in UK education, with a duty of care for the young people we serve.
We believe school and college dining room facilities should be exciting and vibrant places to eat. We work hard to produce menus that are modern, fresh and exciting and designed to appeal to our young customers. We also provide capital investment in the catering facilities to create a fresh image, complete with new signage, menu displays and labelling, uniforms and packaging.
Every school and college is different and we take great care to understand the ethos and pupil and student profile to tailor services that will produce the best outcomes.
We draw on a range of food concepts, service methods and innovations that work successfully across our education portfolio, designed to make food a source of wellbeing from the early years to the advanced stages of education.
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Healthy Eating Initiatives
We support our schools in encouraging pupils to eat healthily through learning initiatives. We also provide a range of modules designed to help them understand food, nutrition, and its effect on their bodies.
We place great emphasis on training our colleagues to understand health and education outcomes and to proactively educate pupils on healthy eating, encouraging them to try new foods. This training supports the government's commitment to delivering the School Food Plan goals aligned with Ofsted assessments.
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Pupil and student engagement
We continually strive to increase meal uptake by engaging with students at our schools with programmes of food events and extra-curricular activities such as nutritional assemblies, fun to cook sessions and creating herb gardens.
We also link food menus to curriculum activities. For example, foods from different parts of the world can be showcased to bring geography lessons to life.
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Parent Engagement
At the start of each menu cycle, we recommend a taster session with parents to discuss the new menu and provide samples. Participating in student council sessions is also very important to understanding pupils’ need. We hold stand-alone Catering Forums every half term where we meet with customers, to sample new menus.
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Food concepts and offers that match the high street
To meet student preference for promotions and offers that mirror the high street we have introduced a range of branded concepts which offer high quality, are freshly made, and available at competitive prices. These offers are supported by attractive promotional material and detailed production manuals for our staff ensure consistently high standards across a wide range of exciting recipes from around the world.
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Cultural Diets
Our Food Diversity training programme provides our colleagues with easily accessible information on cultural and religious influences on diet so that we can provide choices to meet the needs of a range of ethnic backgrounds.
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Special Diets
We are committed to being responsive to children with special dietary needs. We ask parents to provide confirmation of their child’s allergies from either a doctor or paediatrician, and we are then able to provide foods to meet these specific needs.
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Payment and ordering systems
At many of our secondary schools, we operate cashless swipecardID systems that give students an account into which parents can put funds via a secure internet payment option or at student payment cashpoints.
In many of our school contracts, our investment has enabled us to upgrade to cashless payment systems – something that has significantly reduced queue times for students.
At many of our schools we have introduced Impact Interactive Whiteboards, which encourage pupils to be actively involved in choosing their own lunch via Interactive Touch Technology. This system greatly reduces the need for cash and is also faster and more efficient. Queue times and food wastage are also reduced.
Parents also have the option of pre-ordering their child’s school meals through iPayimpact and can manage their account from any location or device with an internet connection.
TaylorShaw has developed LunchHound our innovative web based medical diet portal.
LunchHound is an easy-to-use platform that simplifies managing medical diets for students. Parents can securely add their child's details, including their school and specific dietary needs. This information is then seamlessly sent to our team of dietitians, who create a personalised menu tailored to the child's requirements.
For more information on how to apply for a medical diet for your child click here
