It’s official, we are SIMPLY THE BEST!

We have always known that our catering staff at Ashbourne Hilltop are the best around, but this year it has been made official! In previous years our kitchen has won various awards including the customer service award and Gold award from Derbyshire County Council catering, who look after over 300 schools across Derbyshire.

This year however they have gone several steps better and have been presented with a Platinum award, as well as being named the best kitchen in Derbyshire! We are so proud of the team and so every happy that our wonderful pupils get the very best that Derbyshire has to offer for dinner every day!

Exciting changes to our menu!

As part of our desire to constantly improve everything that we offer the Hilltop community, we have been changing the way that our pupils order their dinner. In school we have been encouraging all of our pupils to think about what will be on offer at dinner time and asking them to select an option during morning registration. The children have been brilliant at this and have got into the swing of the new system quickly. There are a number of reasons for this change in system.

• Firstly, we are dedicated to encouraging independence and real world skills for all of our pupils and these small changes help our younger pupils to grow in maturity and confidence while in our supporting environment.
• Secondly, we are relaunching our eco-school work and feel that these steps we can take towards reducing the waste food discarded by the kitchen are important.
• Finally, we have an exciting new range of meals for the children to order from and we wanted to get them used to ordering from a smaller range of foods before increasing the options available to them.

We have been working with our kitchen and the Derbyshire County Council Catering Team to confirm that from Monday 20^th September all pupils will be able to order from the following menu:

1. The daily meat option (the top option on the regular menu plan) There are some days this will also be vegetarian
2. The daily vegetarian option (the second option on the regular menu plan)
3. A ham sandwich with a selection of salad or the daily vegetables
4. A cheese sandwich with a selection of salad or the daily vegetables
5. A tuna sandwich with a selection of salad or the daily vegetables
6. A jacket potato with cheese, beans or tuna mayonnaise
7. A pasta pot (new for Derbyshire schools!) with a selection of salad or the daily vegetables

All of these options are in addition to the yoghurts pots, fresh fruit and cake/biscuit that are available for the pupils. These do not need ordering before dinner.

Each morning during registration the children will be asked to select what they would like to eat for dinner. The kitchen will then prepare the right amount of each meal option for the school.

For this reason, we are asking that for our younger pupils and those pupils who might find it more difficult to decide which meal to choose, parents look at the menu the night before or in the morning and choose the best option with their child. This way our ordering during the register will be easier for the pupils and we know that what they are ordering will be the best option for them.

We understand that our very young pupils may find remembering this information difficult to begin with and so your child’s class teacher will be in touch with information on how you can pass on this information to us.

This is a really exciting step to be taking for us and the pupils. We hope that the new options will be a success and make dinner times at Hilltop even more enjoyable for all!