The Food Focus group was set up to review the school lunch offering at Towerbank. A small group of volunteers have completed significant work in partnership with the school and the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) to improve the quality of school meals served. They continue to work hard in this area with the current focus being a campaign for food cooked on site, by a dedicated team that can become a part of the school.
If you are interested in getting involved please email towerbankparentcouncil@gmail.com
A bit more detail:
In 2016 the school asked the parent group to partner them in reviewing the school lunch offering. They were concerned that the food cooked at Portobello High and delivered in to Towerbank was consistently not eaten by the children; that children were left hungry and unsatisfied by the catering and that a large proportion of the meals supplied were ending up in the bin. Parent led research showed a significant number of issues including quality of the food, poor presentation, inappropriate portion sizes, staff engagement, and large amounts of waste.
Many improvements have been made in response to this report. Practical issues such as keeping food at an appropriate temperature, gaps in essential equipment and over ordering were resolved quickly. The fruit, vegetable and salad offering was widened and presentation improved. Unpopular items such as mixed vegetables and milk were removed from the menu. Portion sizes were adjusted, and bread and cake supplied in smaller amounts. Efforts were made to improve food through different cooking methods and ingredient selection, resulting in generally better meals. This work from CEC coincided with a complete reworking of the dining space and serving area in school. A classroom was converted into a preparation, washing and serving area and an extension to the ground floor hall meant all those eating school meals could be accommodated in one space across the lunch hour. Older children who have packed lunches are still accommodated in upper halls or in the playground.
As part of their research the Food focus group visited two other primary school in Edinburgh catered for by Edinburgh Catering Services. Currie Primary School and Flora Stevenson Primary School both have a kitchen on site. Flora Stevenson, which was visited most recently, has many similar challenges to Towerbank: it has a comparable school role and uptake of school lunches and is housed in a Victorian building on a restricted site.
The differences between the schools with on-site kitchens and Towerbank were remarkable, not only in terms of the food quality achieved because of cooking on site, but in terms of the atmosphere, the enjoyment and appetite of the children, the (lesser amount of) waste generated and the commitment and engagement of the catering staff.
The Food Focus group believe that the challenges presented by cooking off site, and a situation where staff have no ownership or investment in the food at school, can be resolved by cooking on site, in a kitchen built for Towerbank. Food cooked on site, by a dedicated team that can become a part of the school, is our ideal, and one that we are committed to campaigning for.
The Food Focus group are now working with Gillon Rand (depute head teacher) and on-site catering team to improve the on-site offering. They are awaiting next meeting with CEC to further plans for on-site cooking and planning contact with councillors around next steps for improvements.
More information can be found in the following documents:
Towerbank Parent Council 