Staffordshire school cooks to be given extra training
Hundreds of school cooks across Staffordshire will be given extra training to ensure youngsters are given 'restaurant' quality food, it has emerged.
A total of 340 kitchen staff will spend the next 12 months working towards a professional NVQ.
The course will cover kitchen services, food production and cooking, hospitality supervision, and leadership and hospitality management.
Staffordshire County Council's finance chief Mark Winnington said: "Giving children healthy, nutritious and wherever possible locally sourced food is extremely important.
"Going alongside that is the need to ensure our school cooks get the training and support they need to provide the best service possible.
"Children, young people and their parents come to expect the same level of service in the school canteen as they would in any professional restaurant, so it is important we give staff the opportunities to learn and progress to benefit both themselves and Staffordshire schools."
School meals across the county are delivered by Entrust, a partnership between Staffordshire County Council and outsourcing group Capita.
Entrust serve 46,000 school meals a day across the county and were recently awarded the Soil Association Food for Life Silver Award for their high quality, organic and sustainable menus in primary, middle and high schools.
Simon James, director for support services at Entrust, said: "We are committed to helping children and young people enjoy a healthy diet and lifestyle. Our award-winningmenus go a long way in helping us achieve this and our cooks have a huge role to play in schools that shouldn't be underestimated."
