Chartwells, the leading provider of catering and support services to schools in the UK, will partner with Anglesey County Council for five years, to deliver nutritious and tasty meals to more than 9,500 pupils attending the Island’s 39 primary schools, five secondary schools and one special needs school.
September will see Chartwells launching its new menus across Anglesey’s primary schools, with a focus on health, nutrition and taste, as well as sustainability. Menus will contain school favourites such as bolognaise, fish and chips and a mid-week roast dinner.
A selection of recipes for the September primary school menu have been created in collaboration with CBBC celebrity Chef and Leon co-founder, Allegra McEvedy MBE, alongside Chartwells’ chefs and its dedicated team of nutritionists.
As part of the new menu, pupils will be treated to Chef Allegra’s Takeover Tuesdays – offering fun and exciting dishes, introducing new flavours and foods. The cafeteria-style system adopted in the Island’s secondary schools will remain in place.
Retendering the contract has provided financial savings, some of which will be used by the Council’s Executive to subsidise the cost of primary school meals further. From 1 September 2021, the cost of a primary school meal will be reduced by 30p to £2.20.
This contract will be supported by the recently launched Compass Cymru – part of Compass Group UK & Ireland, that operates as a localised offering for Wales from Wales.
Anglesey’s Education Portfolio Holder, Councillor Meirion Jones, said, “We are pleased to award the contract to Chartwells following a lengthy and robust competitive tender process. The evaluation panel was made up of Council officers, head teachers representatives and an independent catering consultant.
'This is an important new contract which will ensure that our pupils and staff continue to receive a healthy and wholesome school meal.”
Charlie Brown, Managing Director at Chartwells, commented, “We are delighted to be working with Anglesey County Council to deliver school meals to the children of Anglesey.
'We are passionate that every child has access to nutritious food. We welcome the Council’s decision to subsidise the school meal offer, enabling many more families to access school lunch.
'We work hard to provide value for money and will also be supporting schools with access to information on nutrition and healthy eating, through lessons and demonstrations with our culinary teams, as well as additional learning materials.”
Chartwells, which is the education catering arm of Compass, works with around 2,000 schools across the UK.