New Catering Partner for Pathfinder Trust – Aspens
As part of our continuous commitment to providing the very best environment for our pupils to grow, learn, and thrive, we are pleased to share an exciting update regarding our school catering provision.
Following a comprehensive review of our lunchtime services, we are introducing a new catering partner, Aspens, to manage our school kitchen and work with our fantastic Hensall Cook, Mrs Hardy. Aspens are renowned for their focus on fresh, high-quality ingredients, vibrant menus, and nutritious meals that support our pupils’ well-being throughout the busy school day. We have attached with this letter an ‘Introduction to Aspens’ presentation pack.
Meal Pricing Update
We are pleased to share some positive news regarding school meal prices. Thanks to careful budgeting, we are able to reduce the cost of a pupil school meal starting this September. The price will drop from £3.30 down to £2.90 per meal.
We know that family budgets are tight, and we are committed to keeping school lunches as affordable as possible. At just £2.90, our meals offer exceptional value for money, ensuring your child receives a healthy, nutritious lunch to help them stay focused and succeed in the classroom.
Menus
We have worked hard with Aspens to give the children of our school some real choice when it comes to lunchtime options, and we hope to see more children enjoying a school meal.
There is a main option, a vegetarian option, or a jacket potato with a choice of toppings. There is also a new choice, available every day, of hot pasta with a homemade tomato sauce and optional cheese. All of this comes with fresh vegetables or salad and bread.
Hopefully there is a hot meal choice that most children will like. However, if your child would prefer a sandwich we can offer this too. You can choose from the fillings of cheese, tuna or low-sugar jam. Sandwich choices are accompanied by a tomato pizza swirl (or similar), carrot sticks, a piece of fruit and a home-made cookie (or similar).
Please find attached our 3 weekly rotational menu from September.
Ordering
You must continue to pre-order for the lifetime of this menu and submit your order by completing the google order form here. You can change any of your orders by emailing the school office.
Keeping Our Pupils Safe: Food Allergies and Dietary Needs
With the transition to a new provider, we must take the opportunity to strengthen our safeguarding and care around medical dietary needs. In particular, we want to ensure we strictly uphold Benedict’s Law (the legal and moral framework requiring schools to have absolute clarity, rigorous tracking, and strict protocols regarding life-threatening food allergies). Simply put, it means no child should ever be served an allergen that could harm them, and communication between home, school, and the kitchen must be seamless. To fully support this and keep every child safe, we are implementing new routines across the entire school day, from the moment children arrive in the morning until they leave at the end of the day:
- Any food brought into breakfast clubs or morning provision will be strictly monitored. We ask that parents share the responsibility with us by remaining highly vigilant about keeping our school a nut-free zone.
- Pupils with food allergies or severe dietary intolerances will be clearly identified throughout the school day with a special purple wristband so they are only served food that is 100% safe for them. They’ll also have a special lunchtime placemat and a special coloured set of plates ! Yes they will be purple too.
- These safety measures will extend to all wrap-around care and after-school clubs where snacks are provided.
- While our staff and our catering team will be extra vigilant, our greatest strength lies in working together. We kindly ask that you have a conversation with your child at home about the importance of not sharing food, snacks, or treats with their friends whilst at school. While sharing is usually a wonderful trait we encourage at school, when it comes to food, it can be incredibly dangerous. Please help us explain to them that a snack that is perfectly safe for one child could make a classmate very poorly. Teaching them that keeping their food to themselves is actually a way of looking out for their friends will help us maintain a safe environment for everyone.
Compliance and Record Keeping
Our school has always been a community built on partnership and care. We want to take this opportunity to check our records are perfectly up to date, so if your child has a food allergy or dietary requirement please could we ask you to work through the below checklist of actions.
[ ] Complete and return the attached Aspens Alternative Menu Form. As this is a new catering supplier, this form will need to be completed for all pupils with food allergies, intolerances or dietary requirements.
Please return this by email on office.hensall@wrfed.pmat.academy.
[ ] Obtain and submit with your child’s Aspens Alternative Menu Form recent medical evidence to support any new or changes to food based allergies or intolerances. If you have already submitted this to school, you do not need to re-submit evidence.
Please be aware that our kitchens are unable to provide a hot school meal until they have a compliant menu that has been mutually agreed and the compliance requirements have been met.
Thank you for your continued support and partnership as we introduce these positive, healthy changes for our children.
