Cooking up a big success

Many students also qualify for free school lunches, and use exactly the same biometric fingerprint system as children whose families pay for food.

All of the school's cooking is done on site by a 14-strong catering team led by dedicated Catering and Hospitality Manager Pauline Whitfield.

"We prepare all food here from scratch every day so have the flexibility to cook different and unusual dishes," Pauline explained, "We also ensure that all our meals are healthy and nutritionally balanced."

Typical dishes include lamb hotpot, Hungarian goulash, roast chicken, ratatouille penne bake and chickpea with passata.  Puddings include lemon tart, Eve's pudding, rhubarb bread and butter pudding and mandarin fruit mousse.

It's a long and busy day for Pauline and her team. Delicious breakfast smells drift from the restaurant from 7.30am, leading on to mid-morning snacks such as home-baked pizza and toasted sandwiches. Three sittings for lunch follow offering a choice of a main meat dish, a vegetarian meal, two types of pasta dish, a salad and jacket potatoes with a variety of fillings.  

The tasty sandwich and wraps counter is also popular, with fillings typically including the highly-praised minted lamb, chicken Caesar salad, Greek salad, tuna, and egg and bacon.

To round off the day, children who stay on at school to do homework or attend an after school club are given a free snack and drink at 4.30pm.  Home-made cookies, freshly made healthy popcorn and fruit pots are very popular.

Earlier this year the Academy received the highest five star score on Milton Keynes Council's ‘Scores on the Doors' food hygiene rating scheme.

Students can buy restaurant food by using the school's biometric fingerprint system. To find out more about how this works call Mrs Eaton on MK 341700.

To find out if your child qualifies for free school lunches call Janet Ellis from Milton Keynes Council on 01908 657802.