School’s Out for Summer

School Chefs take the Spotlight:

Amber Francis, Head Chef at Christ’s College Finchley, didn’t just compete in the Great British Menu, she triumphed as Champion of Champions, showcasing her winning dish at Blenheim Palace. If you missed it, read more here.

Nathan Scarlett, Executive Chef and Food Educator at Henry Cavendish Primary School, was crowned ‘Chef Champion’ at the Jamie Oliver Good School Food Awards. Praised as “brilliant, inspiring, and full of heart” by Mary Berry, and celebrated by Ellie Simmonds for making food “exciting, educational and totally inclusive”. Jamie Oliver calls him “an absolute superstar” who’s not only feeding children but fueling their confidence, curiosity, and sense of belonging.

And hats off to Russ Ball of Pokesdown Primary in Bournemouth, who, after winning Jamie Oliver’s School Chef Award last year, has now received a national School Food Award from parliament for his transformative work. Russ even gave evidence in Parliament, championing the power of scratch cooking and real food in schools.

Policy, Reform & Real Impact:

This year saw two major steps forward:

• Free School Meal eligibility expanded
• School Food Standards review announced

These are two key aims we’ve long campaigned for. Your support helped push both. Our polling of 1,000 parents made the case clear: affordability remains a major concern.

Chefs in Schools is on the frontline of policy change and campaigning. This year we hosted Stephen Morgan MP, Minister for Early Education, as well as school lunch visits with civil servants from the Department for Education. Through our work in the School Food Review group, a coalition of organisations campaigning for change, we contributed to the updated report, The Superpowers of School Food.

If you haven’t yet, check out our ‘Future of School Food’ campaign page, where you can read more on our parent polling, download our report and have your say on the future of school food. 

The Membership:

This year, Chefs in Schools proudly launched its Membership, connecting school kitchen teams from London to Wolverhampton. Members enjoy a rich selection of online resources, from recipes and templates to partnership discounts and food education tools. We have hosted engaging webinars on topics like food waste and community engagement, alongside hands-on events such as our Breakfast Best Practice workshop.

Our Kitchen Exchange Programme successfully kicked off and will grow next year, offering even more opportunities for kitchens to learn and share best practices. Our procurement programme continues to deliver quality and value, with recommended suppliers for fish, dry goods, red meat and poultry, and fruit and vegetable trials coming soon.

Since March, six monthly newsletters have kept members informed, inspired and connected. To wrap up the year, we are hosting a networking event in London, bringing chefs together to connect over good food and drink.

Looking ahead, we are building on the momentum from last year’s Annual Conference, which welcomed 130 school chefs. Save the date for 1st September 2025. We can’t wait to see you there!

Thank you for your ongoing support as we grow our membership and work together to create a brighter school food future.

Impact Numbers:

Stand-out moments:

We asked our community of Chefs and Chef Trainers for their stand-out moments from this year. From creative menus to new models of delivery, school kitchens across the country raised the bar this year.

• Our Snack Time Takeover swapped ultra-processed snacks for chef-made veggie options.
• The Hub Kitchen model launched and continued to grow, delivering fresh, nutritious meals to multiple schools across Hackney from one chef-led site.
• Gainsborough opened a new community kitchen and polytunnels, growing their own ingredients on site.
• The Grove was featured in Riverford’s Veg & Table magazine for their fantastic seasonal menus.
• A pupil at Devonport School who once refused to try “that purple stuff” became a purple cauliflower convert, and was devastated when the harvest season ended.
• At London Academy, scratch-cooking cut costs by £50,000 and increased sales by £10,000. Their team also introduced homemade baguettes, a salad bar, and transformed school favourites like chicken burgers.
• St Paul with St Luke’s’ Meg and Dan made amazing homemade bagels and have been inspiring pupils with their food education—follow their journey on Instagram.
• At Henry Cavendish, Nathan led creative food education sessions in the classroom.
• Inspired by Amber Francis’ Try Something New Tuesdays we encouraged schools to join in with this movement and get pupils to explore new ingredients and flavours.
• Devonport and Gurū Nānak served freshly baked bread every day
• Both Redriff and Manorfield invited families to “Come Dine With Me” lunches.
• Manorfield introduced a really impressive new salad bar.
• Emma and the team at Stanwell Fields have been getting really creative with their menus, even cleverly branding up their Portuguese chicken and rice as “Stando’s”.
• After serving up his signature teriyaki chicken, a Year 3 pupil at Gayhurst was so inspired by Chef Sergio that they went home and asked their parents to recreate it for dinner.
• Our Hub Kitchen and Devonport School both introduced venison to the menu.
• At Farmwise, over 800 of pupils got hands-on making pasta and at the Farm & Country Show hundreds of pupils made a build-your-own pasta.
• This year, 83 participants either completed or are completing our School Chef Educator training, covering a combined roll of 27,025 pupils across five regions and including more than 15 Multi-Academy Trusts. From green pea ‘Hulk’ Cake taste tests to whole roasted cauliflower winning over classrooms, it’s been an epic year for our SCE programme. Here’s what some of our graduates said:

“Now children are eating more vegetables and liking them.”
“I cook broccoli properly now — it’s GREEN. I feel like a chef!”
“We’re baking every Wednesday and selling to parents to fund our growing garden.”
“This should be permanent training for all cooks that work in schools.”

These stories, and so many more, are proof of what can be done when school food is valued and invested in. A huge thank you to all the chefs, headteachers, pupils, and partners making it happen every day.

Resources:

We launched and refreshed key resources this year:

• Breakfast Club Guides – in response to the Government’s Breakfast Club pilot announcement, we worked with primary schools in London to trial a number of approaches and menus for breakfast
• School Food Toolkit (relaunched) – our game-changing guide, updated with eligibility guidance, comms templates, and more!
• Governor’s Guide to School Food – designed to equip governors with what they need to champion food from the top

Further resources are available here.

What’s Coming in 2025/26:

• New training cohorts launching in Oxfordshire, Monmouthshire, Somerset, Bristol, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Thurrock, Blackpool and so many more
• New toolkits: Reducing Food Waste in Schools and The Dining Hall as a Classroom: Food Education
• More storytelling—because school chefs deserve the spotlight
• Our first Rural Hub Kitchen!
• National events and new campaigns to grow momentum

A huge thank you to all our amazing partners and funders who make our work possible!

A Thank You to the Kitchen:

From the joy of flavour to the pride in service, here’s our thank you to the kitchen teams. Thank you for helping us push school food forward, every single day. See you in September!