Valentines High School

On Tuesday 22 June Valentines High School was awarded a 5,000 pound cheque by the School Food Trust for making outstanding improvements to their school meal service and for winning the Trust’s School of the Month award.

The School Food Trust‘s Million Meals School of the Month award rewards schools’ excellence and innovation in school meals provision.

On Tuesday 22nd June, Carl Morgan, Million Meals Project Manager, handed over the 5,000 pound cheque to Valentines High School in a special presentation.

Mrs Jones, said:

“We’re so proud to have won the School of the Month award. Since signing up to the Million Meals campaign we’ve applied a ‘Whole School’ approach to healthy eating by engaging with pupils, parents and carers. This reflects our school motto - ‘In Harmony, Achieving Excellence’.” –

Valentines High School made a number of improvements to its school meal service to make it worthy of winning the award. The school introduced a futuristic biometrics system which allows pupils and staff to ‘pay’ for their food using a fingerprint scanner. This has radically improved the flow of traffic in the dining hall, making lunch times less stressful.

A Healthy Eating policy was introduced, with a menu that is sensitive to the diverse cultural requirements of the pupils. The school’s catering company now send a visiting chef twice a term to generate interest in school food by producing themed menus with recipes from around the world. The canteen has also adopted the pupils’ suggestion of a ‘meal deal’, whereby customers receive a free dessert when purchasing a main course. This has ensured that more pupils are opting for a nutritionally balanced lunch rather than snacks.

Through engaging pupils and introducing new policies, Valentines High School has considerably increased their school meal take up.

Moreover, the biometrics system has afforded the payment of school meals a level of privacy that has relieved pupils eligible for free school meals of the stigma surrounding the issue. Since the new systems were installed, the number of pupils taking free school meals has risen significantly - a fact that the school are particularly proud of.

Mrs Jones continues:

“It’s really important that those pupils eligible for free school meals feel able to claim them. Our payment system has really helped in this respect.”

The prize money is to be spent on improvements to the school’s servery area in the canteen. These improvements will take place over the summer holidays

Carl Morgan from the School Food Trust, commented:

"Anyone running a restaurant will tell you that you have to listen to your customers - and school food is no different. That's why we were so impressed by Valentines High taking on the meal deal idea that students suggested. It just goes to show that when you involve students in designing your service, you can make the changes that will really appeal to them."