With ParentPay coming soon, paying online for school dinners, trips, and clubs will become easier, quicker, and safer. Please follow our Twitter and visit our website as we will keep you updated when it goes live.
Category: uncategorized
Will your school be participating in Pancake Day?
Whether your pupils prefer the simplicity of a plain pancake or want to go the extra mile with fresh fruit, yogurt, or even cheese and crackers, we’ve got the perfect treat for every palate.
If your school is participating in Pancake Day, please note that you would have already been sent the menu poster, allergen datasheet and carb chart via email.
We received a Food for Life Bronze Award!
We are delighted to share that HES Catering Services has received the Food for Life Bronze Award. This award by Soil Association Scotland shows our commitment to providing ethically sourced and high quality meals.
To receive a Bronze catering mark, our catering team has met the following guidelines:
- At least 75% of dishes on the menu are freshly prepared (on site or at a local hub kitchen) from unprocessed ingredients.
- All meat is from farms which satisfy UK animal welfare standards.
- No fish are served from the Marine Conservation Society ‘fi sh to avoid’ list.
- Eggs are from free range hens.
- No undesirable additives or artificial trans fats are used.
- No genetically modified ingredients are used.
- Free drinking water is prominently available.
- Menus are seasonal and in-season produce is highlighted.
- Information is on display about food provenance.
- Menus provide for all dietary and cultural needs.
- All suppliers have been verified to ensure they apply appropriate food safety standards.
- Catering staff are supported with skills training in fresh food preparation and the Catering Mark.
A well done to every member of the team that made it possible to achieve the Food for Life Bronze Award
Book your FREE space at the 2024 East London & Essex Conference
The 2024 East London & Essex Conference is taking place next month on Thursday 01 February at the CEME Business Park in Rainham.
This event presents a fantastic opportunity for Heads, Senior Leaders, and Business Managers to meet numerous suppliers working with Havering Education Services, including the Catering service.
If you’ve been considering a switch in catering providers for your primary or secondary school, securing your space and attending this highly anticipated conference is essential. It offers the perfect opportunity to meet the catering service manager, who can address your questions and provide insight into the service.
Additionally, attendees will have the opportunity of listening to talks by well-respected keynote speakers, including Simon Weston CBE, Dan Fitzpatrick, Samantha Garner, and Paul Roberts.
Book your space now to secure your ticket for this highly anticipated event.
We look forward to engaging with you at the conference!
St Peter’s celebrated National School Meals Week!
“We didn’t have to search far for our special VIP guests for today’s special lunch. The children enjoyed seeing our special guests during lunchtime and around the school”
We’re Celebrating National School Meals Week!
To mark National School Meals Week this year, we want to showcase our commitment to sustainability, aligning with this year’s central theme of ‘Eat more, waste less.’
We’ve introduced daily theme days to our secondary school menus, including ‘Eco-Mondays’. On Mondays, we proudly serve dishes that combines both meat and plant-based elements, reducing the meat portion by 50% and incorporating Quorn as a supplement. This initiative is leaving a positive footprint on our planet, resulting in reduced carbon emissions, minimized water usage, and a significant contribution to the preservation of our forests – a holistic, eco-friendly approach that benefits us all.
If you’re staff in one of our Havering school kitchens, we’re keen to see how you’re engaging with this initiative this week. Please share your photos with us at haveringcatering@havering.gov.uk
We’ve changed our look!
New Website FAQs
Haveringcatering.co.uk, as you know it, is changing! As our catering service continues to grow and expand… well, so must our website!
HES Catering (haveringcatering.co.uk) is getting a makeover and the new look website will be launching Thursday 2nd November at 3pm. We’re excited about our fresh online presence and we hope you are too!
Please feel free to browse the new website and enjoy. We know that you may still have questions so we have pulled together some common questions that may arise when looking for specific information.
What’s new?
Haveringcatering.co.uk will continue to showcase HES Catering’s offer and important information for schools and parents including payment, Free School Meals and, of course, our menus.
The new website features a clean, well thought-out design, with a new and improved navigation menu to make your browsing experience efficient and smooth. We’ve cleaned up our top-level menu for a tidier look and added drop-downs to help you access relevant pages more easily.
Why the change?
HES Catering is always looking at opportunities to improve our customers’ experience, both in schools and online. We decided the website needed a makeover and improved functions so that schools, parents and potential clients can find what they need.
You may notice a change in the website style and more use of the colours in our logo. The vibrant green, yellow and orange colours reflect the transition into a more mature stage of life, mirroring the journey of students as they progress from primary to secondary education, much like a bell pepper ripening from one stage to another.
Where are the all-important primary and secondary school menus?
In the top right corner of each page, you’ll find the vibrant green ‘Primary’ and cheerful yellow ‘Secondary’ buttons. Click to access the relevant stage and click ‘Our Menus’. This will lead you straight to the menu page you should already be familiar with.
Where did news, blog posts and updates go?
Once the new website is live, you’ll notice that all of our ‘Healthy Living’ posts have been integrated into our ‘Blogs’ page. This page is your one-stop shop for all of our blog posts, updates, news and case studies.
What else is changing?
The change to the website is one of many changes to come in the upcoming months. These changes will not affect our meals or service. The changes will merely affect our brand style, which will remain consistent from primary to secondary and across all of our materials so we will be instantly recognisable.
What if I need help or want to pass on feedback/suggestions?
As always, we would love to hear your feedback, suggestions and assist you with any queries.
Contact us by email, schoolcatering@havering.gov.uk, or call 01708 433 117. We are available Mon-Fri, 8:30am-4pm.
Hospitality Plus Cater for S.T.A.R Awards
Our Hospitality Plus service had the amazing opportunity to host a delicious afternoon tea for the first London Borough of Havering S.T.A.R Awards at Langton’s as a Special Thanks & Recognition for all staff that work within the council back in November.
“Hospitality Plus provided a lovely afternoon tea for the S.T.A.R. Colleague Awards at Havering Council. Presented traditionally on vintage crockery and three-tiered cake stands, the afternoon tea itself offers a good range of delicious food for a very reasonable price.” Michelle Giordmain- HR
In addition, as a service we are also proud that we and members of our team were also up for awards, winning the following:
Outstanding Customer Service Award- Emma Tuvey, Kitchen Supervisor, Catering & Traded Services – St Joseph’s School Kitchen
The winner of this category not only received a nomination from a colleague, but also a Head Teachers’ endorsement and a thank you letter from a parent. She bought new and fresh ideas, along with better ways of working to help improve the current offer. She has revolutionised meal times at school. Rather than being put off by the extra work for children with special dietary requirements, and to a degree, the responsibility, she fully embraced the challenge and has proven to be instrumental in really making this whole experience the success it is today. With a parent saying “It was the first time in 6 years I had trusted anyone else to prepare my daughter’s meals!”
Innovation, Enterprise & Commercial Award- HES Catering – Veggie Run
The winner of this category created an overarching healthy living campaign and educational App aimed at Havering pupils aged 4-11 years of age. The App taught children to learn to dodge unhealthy foods and win tangible sporty rewards by choosing fruit and vegetables. Generating over £400,000 increased sales in catered lunches and sustained use of the App, thousands of pupils have directly benefited from having increased access to sporting activity.
