• What’s it all about
• What’s happening this year?
• How can I get involved?
National School Meals Week (NSMW) is the one week a year where the school meals industry celebrates all that is GREAT about school food.
LACA, the Lead Association for CAtering in Education has organised NSMW for the past 21 years with many memorable moments.
LACA recognise many schools run regular promotions and NSMW forms part of that calendar. For those who want to run theme days before or during NSMW we have provided lots of resources (English and Welsh) on the website for you to freely access.
But NSMW is now about far more than just a week of activities. Whilst many promotions are still run during the week, in addition we celebrate all the great things school caterers have been doing ALL YEAR ROUND.
The aims for NSMW ’15 include:
• To help caterers promote great school food throughout the year by providing FREE marketing resources
• Encouraging non users to trial the service
• To encourage people to sign up as Ambassadors of the school meals industry
• Encouraging school caterers to ‘shout out’ about all the great things they are doing #SchoolMealsShoutOut
• Serving school meals in high profile venues to bring positive attention to the industry (Snowdon,House of Commons, Senedd)
• Encouraging school chefs to work in high profile venues to demonstrate their professionalism
• To maximise positive publicity throughout the year, culminating in a big communications push during NSMW itself.
A great deal happened during NSMW, from its launch by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, to a pop up kitchen outside the House of Commons serving fantastic samples of beautiful school food to MP’s and the public at large.
MasterChef Judge Gregg Wallace also supported NSMW with a visit to Minster School in Kent underlining the importance of healthy nutritious food for children and talking about the food journey from farm to plate.
Other celebrities showed their support via Twitter or by visiting schools, including Gary Rhodes, Brian Turner and Lorraine Pascale.
More than 65 School Chefs spent a day in numerous high profile venues from Rick Stein’s restaurant in Cornwall to the Gherkin in London and the House of Commons, showing off their skills and demonstrating the talent that the school meals industry has to offer.
Many schools ran fun theme days and NSMW celebrated its 21st Birthday.
We were delighted that positive press coverage was once more in evidence as Caterers invited their local press to run features and thereby spread the message across England and Wales as to just how great modern day school lunches really are.
To see a short video of all that happened during NSMW ’14, visit the
‘Gallery’ page of www.NSMW.org.uk
Gregg Wallace tucking in to his roast dinner at Minister CofE Primary School Kent
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg helped launch National School Meals Week 2014 The ‘pop up’ kitchen outside the House of Commons was a great success
Sweet Potato Curry with Roti Bread was just one of the many dishes served at the House of Commons ‘pop up kitchen’
IMPORTANTLY, we want ever yone to
‘shout out’ about just how great school food is and what you are doing to promote positive messages. Use
#SchoolMealsShoutOutand start tweeting today, but also consider what you can do to promote great school food – if you need help, just ask.
Press release templates and resources are available, but what else can you do? What about contacting the local radio station and invite yourself in with a school lunch, to be enjoyed and create discussion over the airwaves.
School Meals Reach New Heights On 1st July, to launch NSMW ’15, a LACA delegation ser ved more than 500 school meals at the summit of Snowdon
restaurant to showcase great school food. Joined by this year’s SCOTY winner, Kate Davies from Caerphilly, The LACA Chair, Vice Chair, Chair of events, LACA Wales Vice Chair and Treasurer along with Westminster MP’s, Welsh Assembly Members and officials and senior Gwynedd Council figures all enjoyed a memorable day.
School Caterers to prepare and serve food in Westminster Be one of 10 lucky school caterers, 2 a day during NSMW, who will be given the opportunity to work across the various kitchens and outlets in the Houses of Parliament. Visit www.NSMW.org.ukand tell us why you should be chosen to represent the school meals industr y. Winners will be given details as to how they can invite their school pupils to attend on the same day.
Ser ving great school food at Senedd, in the Welsh Assembly After 2 years of persuasion we are delighted this year we will also be serving great school food at the Senedd during NSMW, and will need support from local school caterers.
Encouraging Chefs to do the return visit to Schools New for 2015 we will be encouraging Restaurant Chefs to spend a day in a school kitchen, if you would like to take advantage of this please get in touch.
School Chef visits to high profile restaurants Following last year’s success we will once more be offering places for school chefs to spend a day in local well known restaurants. To date we have more than 200 restaurants on the database so there should be one near you.
New Promotional resources available Many School caterers enjoy running theme days throughout the year. The NSMW website has many free resources for you to do just that, including promotions that can be run during NSMW. Key resources will be in English and Welsh. ‘Special’
days will be offered and supported by suppliers. These are still being finalised so remember to keep visiting the site.
NSMW links with other partner organisations to maximise the effectiveness of the week
• The Food for Life Partnership will be running National Roast Dinner Day on Wednesday 4th Nov, during NSMW
• Get involved in the Children’s Food Trust ‘Let’s Get Cooking’
initiative
• New Change for Life resources now available on the NSMW site supporting their ‘10 Minute Shake UP’ campaign
These are just some of the many events / ideas generated to promote school lunches, but this list is by no means exhaustive.
What else are you doing..?
School cook Amy Keown with Soughton Hall chef Matthew Bryan learning new skills for National School Meals Week 2014
Visit www.NSMW.org.ukand sign up as a School Meals Ambassador and show your support for our great industry.
Download FREE marketing resources from the site to help you promote great school food throughout the year, as well as NSMW.
Tell us why you should be chosen to represent the school meals industry by being 1 of 10 lucky winners who will prepare and serve food in the Palace of Westminster. Visit www.NSMW.org.ukand enter today.
Visit the NSMW stand at the Main Event and take a Selfie showing how you will be shouting out about school food – with a chance to win a Jeroboam of Prosecco!
For all the latest news follow us on twitter @NSMW or on Facebook or via the website.
Start to use the #SchoolMealsShoutOutand tweet about what you are doing.
Email Louise.Hughes@elygra.co.uk or call 01244 399900 with your location and we will organise a local restaurant to you to spend a day with the chefs and help generate some great local press.
Have your own ideas but need a little help?
Call one of the NSMW team on 01244 399900 for help, support or inspiration.
Remember to use
#SchoolMealsShoutOut and tweet about what you are doing for NSMW
Find us on :
