Sacred Heart, RC Primary School

This project began as a result of an exasperated phone call from a conscientious Deputy Head, whose long standing ambition to revitalise the meal offering at her primary school was being frustrated at every turn by the unimaginative and inflexible food solutions being offered by her incumbent meal provider.

Nadia Bosse had been aware for some while that the food offered consistently failed to meet the many and diverse needs of both pupils and staff, an unacceptable situation made even worse by the fact that the school wasn’t entitled to exert any influence over a failing food offer and an unpopular menu.

School records supported Nadia’s concerns, clearly demonstrating that meal uptake among the pupil community was extremely poor with less than a third taking lunch,  a sombre trend also reflected by ‘stay away’ staff who perceived their school’s overall catering offer to be of a questionable quality.  

For one thing the kitchen was nothing more than an uninspiring bank of contractor-owned microwaves and refrigerators, a stark and unchallenging catering environment which immediately precluded the need for once sought-after craft-trained staff.

Everything finally came to a head because of the constant delivery issues relating to missing menu items.  When key components of set meals were missing, catering staff found themselves unable to remedy the situation on account of a glaring lack of fresh, to hand ingredients, suitably trained staff and appropriate culinary equipment.

Nadia who’d already spent a considerable amount of time researching every aspect of the catering function certainly wasn’t unrealistic about the scale of the problem facing her school and from the outset had been prepared to secure funds available to refurbish both the kitchen and the catering areas.

A rigid stance from the incumbent caterer forced Nadia’s hand and Gordon Haggarty, Accents MD was first invited to visit the school’s premises on the 14th October.

With some 360 children and 40 staff at Sacred Heart School, it was very evident to the Accent team that here lay a fantastic opportunity to develop a service that would not only reinvigorate pupil and staff interest in healthy, nutritious food but also add extra depth to the overall Sacred Heart school offer.

Within a week, Nadia had been taken to two very distinct existing Accent Clients  locally and in both instances Nadia was instantly impressed by the rich spread of fresh fruit, salads and vegetables that were on hand to support a hot main meal and a popular vegetarian alternative.  Fantastic food aside, there was a real buzz in the kitchens with pupils clearly enjoying both the food and depth of choice on offer.

With the caterer leaving at Christmas, there seemed very little time to bring such an extensive catering makeover together.  

Taylor Wicks Design, a dynamic, forward-thinking design company were brought in to assist Sacred Heart’s ambitious catering vision and in no time Accent and Taylor Wicks had joined forces to assemble not only a detailed proposal but a thorough and affordable quote that quickly secured sign-off from both the Head and Governors.

The ambitious plan meant a new catering service would be in place from early January with Taylor Wicks agreeing to initiate an extensive refit over the Christmas holidays.   This was a significant undertaking that not only involved stripping out the old but installing a dishwasher, a combination oven, appropriate storage and all the other essential fittings and equipment associated with fresh food preparation.  

Next came the assembly of an up to the minute servery, which not only offered hot and cold units to serve children their lunches at optimum temperatures but also provided the perfect stage for great food to be showcased in an appealing and appetizing manner.

Finally on Monday 12th January and only two months on from the very first meeting, a new up to date catering facility was ready and raring to go. Almost all of the 360 pupils and 40 staff now enjoy lunch at Sacred Heart Primary School!

The last words should rightly belong to Nadia the true driving force behind such a positive change for the better:  ‘Accent is a truly unique company that prides itself on providing a tailored service that suits the school’s distinct identity.  From the first moment Accent took over our catering contract, the response from our school has been amazing.  Within one week our lunch numbers went up 300%.  Actions speak louder than words and Accent have certainly proved their worth!’