Throughout the authority, our primary schools are serving up an all-new, revised menu to pupils with more Welsh produce on offer.
The WCBC catering, Health and Wellbeing Promoting Schools and WCBC Food in Schools steering groups have been working with Mentir Mon and Larder Cymru to bring an enhanced selection for the young learners of our community. The work has been funded through Welsh Government.
Home Grown
The catering team have been working with suppliers to increase the range of Welsh products on the new menu. During the process, it highlighted all the local produce currently used from dairy to meat and variety of fruit and vegetables on offer.
Catering worked incredibly hard behind the scenes, meeting Welsh Government guidance and national allergen legislations. They delivered this excellent work whilst feeding thousands of Wrexham pupils each day on an extremely tight budget.
Working together
Throughout the project, the catering service and the Health and Wellbeing Promoting School team worked closely with cooks, pupils and parents for their input into the final menu and layout.
For the first time in several years, we have been able to provide a full colour graphic layout of the menu. Previously, this was available on a black and white type face which did not fully reflect the range and variety of food that was offered.
An online Word version will always be available to ensure we are meeting legislations, but schools can now display a more visually appealing design.
Something for everyone
Across Wrexham, we have 58 primary schools with a range of ethnicities and educational needs. The new two-week menu will aim to cater for all dietary requirements.
The aim for the menu is to change it bi-annually to avoid menu fatigue. Through this new endeavour, we want to promote and celebrate the range of food available that is Welsh produce and vegetarian options as well.
We also want to encourage an uptake in fruit and vegetable consumption through the new range.
Developing new ideas
Most of the content development work was carried out by our School Meals team. The menu was trialled at selected schools with pupils. Design, content and production of the artwork for promotional material was carried out by our WCBC Food in Schools steering group.
It incorporated our Betsi diabetic lead, Lead Member for Education, WCBC wellbeing lead, catering and Health and Wellbeing Promoting School team.
Building new and improved ideas
Larder Cymru attended all the steering group meetings for this project and facilitated work between our design teams and suppliers.
By working with our catering team and suppliers, Larder Cymru helped to highlight the Welsh products we already have on our menu that we haven’t celebrated and source new ones to add it.
Balancing cost, locality, local employers, carbon reduction and using Welsh produce where suitable were all factors for consideration from the first meeting of the project.
It was also taken into account that suppliers who are just over the border in England may employ local people and might be closer in miles than a Welsh producer in South Wales, for example. This would both reduce carbon emissions and support our local workers.
From start to finish, Larder Cymru have helped drive the project and provided vital support and guidance along the way.
Councillor Phil Wynn, Lead Member for Education said “It is excellent to see the results of the hard work that has gone into introducing this new and vibrant menu to our primary schools. It looks outstanding, and I have no doubt that it will enhance mealtimes for our school children. Supporting children in making healthy food choices is vital to ensuring they are ready to learn and for them to make the most of their educational opportunities. I would like to thank everyone involved for the dedication and commitment they have contributed to this initiative; the results have been immensely rewarding”.
