ISS Education Cooks Conference – preparing School Cooks for Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM)
Over four hundred and fifty school cooks and managers from across England attended the ISS Facility Services Education ICON14 conference in preparation for Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM). The event at the RICOH Arena in Coventry provided expert input on and demonstrations of inventive ways to bring a ‘total eating experience’ to a new generation of pupils – within the budgetary boundaries of the UIFSM – due to start in the September 2014 term.
Attendees at the conference on August 27, 2014 had access to a variety of information sessions, plus guest speakers from food education policy groups. Group sessions covered key topics such as teamwork, training and development – all essential in the successful delivery of school meals.
The speaker panel included Director of the School Food Plan, Myles Bremner, and School Meals Policy Advisor to the Food for Life Partnership, Jeanette Orrey, MBE. Both highlighted the cooks’ role in feeding pupils, whilst helping their charges to understand food origins.
The cooks also had access to key stakeholders in the school meal supply chain. Representatives from the Soil Association and Marine Stewardship Council were joined by food produce and other school equipment suppliers.
Mark Davies, Director of Education, ISS Facility Services Education commented, “We wanted to say thank you to our cooks for the dedication and commitment they have shown in the run up to Universal Infant Free School Meals. Together, ISS and the stakeholders provided an opportunity to showcase quality and creativity in fuelling children’s bodies and minds.”
Myles Bremner, Director of the School Food Plan said, “ISS Education’s cooks’ conference was a fantastic day – it was really exciting to be able to speak to so many cooks at once about the evolution of school food. To have organised it on such a great scale, and to execute it just a few days before UIFSM, certainly took nerves of steel but it clearly paid off – the energy and enthusiasm in the room was plain to see.”
For more information about ISS Facility Services, please contact hello@feedinghungryminds.co.uk
