St. Aidan's Catering

National Healthy School Status

St. Aidan's is one of the first schools in the County to be awarded National Healthy School Status under the new guidance published this academic year. The award recognises the excellent work going on in the school in the following areas:

• personal, social and health education
• healthy eating
• physical activity
• emotional health and well-being

This work is of course on-going and reflects the school's commitment to all aspects of pupils' health. For more information on healthy schools look at the Healthy Schools website www.wiredforhealth.gov.uk. For information about health at St. Aidan's look at the Health Zone area on this website or speak to Mrs Soper at school.

Our innovative and highly successful approach to school meals has received widespread acclaim. We are proud to announce that we have been accepted onto the Health Education Trust's 'Best In Class', which means our catering practices have been recognised at a national level to be making a positive contribution to the health and wellbeing of our pupils. The school case study and full details of this achievement can be viewed on www.healthedtrust.com. We are also featured in the DfES 'School in Focus' click here for more information.

What the papers say

Ruth Campbell, a reporter on The Northern Echo had heard about St. Aidan's catering reputation and came to see for herself - click to read what she thought

Dietitian

Sharon Watters is the Dietitian for the school. Click here for some useful information about her aims and objectives, together with some useful links to other organisations. If you would like any other information on health issues, why not visit Health Zone, another area of our website, by clicking here. The Government have introduced new guidelines for school catering, which have to be in place for September 2006. The guidelines are intended to improve the diet of children and include:-

• No confectionery to be available at lunchtimes
• No bagged savoury snacks
• No salted condiments
• Deep fried products restricted to no more than once a week
• Limited processed foods
• More fruit and vegetables
• More oily fish
• The only drinks to be served should be water, pure fruit juces, milk and milk drinks and smoothies

Many of these guidelines are already in place but, later this term we shall stop all sales (to years 7 - 11) of:

• Crisps
• Carbonated and high sugar content drinks

We already subsidise fruit so that each piece costs 20p. Year 7 will all have a piece of fruit provided with their meal package. Semi skimmed milk is also available.

If you would like to discuss any of these issues please contact the Dietitian

To see some examples of what is served in our restaurants click here.
To read what the press say about us click here

The impact of improved catering at St. Aidan's has had a positive effect on learning, behaviour and health. It is possible for any school to follow our lead and benefit from improvements to their school catering.

During the last three years, staff at St. Aidan's have developed a catering website, which can be used by other schools and organisations. www.catering4schools.com utilises the knowledge, experience and skills of the St. Aidan's catering team with the help of this interactive website. Have a look at the visitor's area, including an extract from a programme produced by a television company, which shows the commitment the school has to healthy eating and educating our children on the importance of a balanced diet. You will also be able to read about the North of England School Catering Conference 'Serving Them Right' due to be held here on 6th March 2008.

Duchy Originals HDRA Organic Gardens for Schools We are also proud to be members this organisation. Click on the picture for more information.

St. Aidan's Organic Garden Click on the picture to learn about this exciting project.