Catering Award Nomination

Ardingly College catering department are thrilled to have been nominated for the Education Catering Award category in the Public Sector Service Awards. The final takes place on the 9th September 2021.

This award recognises excellence in the provision of foodservice. To be nominated the follow attributes were considered:

  • Menu development and operational innovation.
  • Positive impact of any changes made.
  • The impact of the catering provision on pupils and staff.

The Catering Department, led by Jo Davis, is at the heart of Ardingly College. Good nutrition is at the heart of everything we serve to staff and students. We have two head chefs;  Mark focuses on staff development, ensuring the highest standards, whilst Sav enjoys being creative and delighting staff and students with new delicious dishes whilst meeting some tough requests. His most recent challenge was providing lunch every day over a camp fire for the 40 students on the ‘Great Outdoor Holiday Camp’.

In addition to the daily offering the catering department host school events, house dinners and fabulous balls and there are regular themed days, with ‘donut day’ being one of the favourites. The team also find time in their busy lives to support the local food bank and involve the school community in providing for this project.

During the summer holidays an extensive refurbishment has taken place in the servery providing a bright modern facility to deal with the high flow of daily staff and students. In addition our community is awaiting with excitement the opening of our new Café 150 on campus in September, which will be positioned in the hub of the school, managed under the excellent leadership of Jo and her team.

I am so excited that the team have been nominated for this award. We are passionate about our role within Ardingly College and are always looking for new ideas and creative recipes so that the students really look forward to coming to the canteen every day.

Jo Davis, Catering and major events manager

Our congratulations to all the Catering department.