Not without reason; children are in school for 8 hours every day, as Napoléon observed “An army marches on its stomach”, and the school lunch menu is as important as the curriculum if we want our children to be in optimum shape to learn.
For this reason, on Monday, January 31st. we conducted a pair of consultations with representative groups of children in Primary and Secondary, to get their feedback about the items on the menu they hate, what they like, what they miss, and what they would like to see more of.
In the socially-distanced meetings, held in the Auditorium, were Álvaro, Service Manager for the school, Alejandra, the Inspired group nutritionist, Marcos, Head Chef of the group, and Jorge, our own Head Chef here at Kensington School.
Many and varied were the ideas proposed, as we would expect from two groups numbering 18 children in total, but amongst the suggestions were ideas in relation to the serving of fish ( perhaps different sauces, or perhaps serving the sauce separately ); adding cheese to the pasta dishes; and a list of favourite dishes of children, such as chicken meatballs ( albondigas de pollo ), shepherd’s pie ( pastel de carne ), or the much-requested pasties ( empanadillas ), among others. I think the children were surprised to learn the amount of thought which goes into devising the menu, and even that elements of their school lunch are defined by law!
As an educator, it was a pleasure to see how freely and how eloquently even our youngest children were able to express themselves, and the maturity with which they approached representing their friends and classmates.
As part of the process of consultation, the same group will meet again in March to discuss how things have gone, and any changes they have noticed in the school menu. It’s important that the school lunches are nutritious, balanced, and something the children enjoy eating, and no doubt these consultations will help with these aims – special thanks to the families whose initial interest got the ball rolling.