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The School Food Trust has been awarded £21million to continue
improving the quality of school dinners.
The funding over the next three years
will also support the Trust’s ongoing
work to increase the take up of meals
through better education for parents,
children and young people.
An additional £2million has also been
granted to expand the School FEAST (Food Excellence and Skills Training)
network of training centres for the
school food workforce. The cash will
be invested in new training facilities
to equip staff with the skills they need
to produce healthy, tasty food.
Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children,
Schools and Families, said: “Improving
the quality of school meals, education
about healthy eating and teaching
children to cook is one of my passions.
“There are no quick, overnight solutions
to improving the way we eat as a
nation. I make no apology for introducing
tough nutritional standards for school
food - there is nothing more important
than our children’s well-being.”
Prue Leith (pictured above), Chair of
the School Food Trust, said: “The Trust
has already made huge progress in
transforming school food but there
is still a long way to go. We need to
change the food culture in this country
and this cannot happen overnight.
“School cooks are vital to this revolution
and they deserve the best training
possible. The additional capital funding will enable us to expand the School
FEAST network and reach even more
cooks across the country.”
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Each FEAST training centre will provide a ‘core offer’ of qualifications:
- VRG Level 1 Award in Providing a Healthier School Meals Service
- SupportWork in School Levels 2 and 3
- NVQ Level 2 Professional Cookery
- NVQ Level 2 Food Processing and Cooking
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