School catering team provides hundreds of food parcels for Peterborough pupils

Staff in the Thomas Deacon Education Trust (TDET) Catering team, which supports ten sites across Peterborough and its local area, have provided vital support to families, delivering over 600 food parcels for pupils over the last four weeks.

The Trust provided five-day and ten-day food parcels to support pupils eligible for free school meals, including delivering to families who were self-isolating. This was an essential service for parents, particularly while the Government’s free school meal vouchers scheme got underway.

The parcels contained a balance of fresh fruit, vegetables, milk, bread, cereals, and non-perishable food to provide breakfast and lunch for pupils. This was accompanied by a suggested weekly planner and simple recipe cards to support parents in preparing the food in the healthiest and most nutritious way possible.

All food parcels were also adapted based on students’ allergies or dietary requirements.

Alongside this service, the TDET Catering team have continued to provide healthy hot meals for all key worker and vulnerable children still accessing the school site. The number of children accessing the provision has increased during the most recent lockdown due to changes to the government’s guidance.

Catering Operations Manager for TDET, Michael Dove, said: “It has been an honour to support our local community throughout this pandemic. We understand that food plays a very important role in enabling our pupils to achieve their very best. For some children, the meal they would usually have at school would be their only hot meal of the day and it is important that we continue to provide this for them in the best way we can.

“I want to thank our staff who have worked incredibly hard throughout this difficult time. We have all needed to be incredibly flexible to follow government guidance and adapt to the level of support required by our communities at different times.

“However, all this hard work is made worthwhile when we see one of our families collect their food parcels. Our parents are incredibly thankful, and some have been in tears. Families have contacted us with absolutely no food left in their cupboards and for them, our support is a lifeline.”

The Trust supports seven academies across Peterborough and its surrounding areas: Thomas Deacon Academy, Queen Katharine Academy, Gladstone Primary Academy, Upwood Primary Academy, Warboys Primary Academy, Welbourne Primary Academy, and Richard Barnes Academy.

To find out more about TDET Catering, please visit: www.tdet.education.