NSW HEALTH

“The School Food Project were amazing. They presented at our Canteen Network meeting on the NSW Central Coast and they were so organised it made my job very easy. The beautifully presented and tasty recipes demonstrated at the meeting were cleverly simplistic and appealing to children. The School Food Project has great ideas for including more fresh food on the canteen menu and supporting school canteens to meet the NSW Healthy School Canteen Strategy.”

Chad Partridge

Health Promotion Education Officer, Central Coast Health Promotion

ASHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL

“After years of looking at various options, The School Food Project has assisted our community to launch a canteen that meets our expectations. Everyday our children are offered delicious meals that support learning and wellbeing, made from scratch with whole ingredients. It’s been a great success.”

- Damien Moran

Principal, Ashfield PS

“I cannot recommend SFP enough!! The SFP has gone over and beyond to ensure our canteen has not only been successful from a startup, implementation and operations perspective, but also to ensure our school kids are eating the most healthy, nourishing and delicious meals. Both Theanna and Christina, who I’ve had the pleasure of working with, are passionate, energetic and truly caring, and have been instrumental in the success of our school canteen. We are so thankful to them for everything they have done!!

- Blair Callon

Canteen Manager, Ashfield Public School

The School Food Project made all the difference in the success of our new healthy school canteen. From the very first time we made contact with Theanna, we were provided with such useful information and so much positivity and encouragement. With School Food Project involved, we knew for certain that our school canteen would be a flagship example of totally healthy and tasty food that nourished our kids and provided an invaluable service to the school. They helped at every stage of the process, from conversations with the principal to writing recipes to training the canteen manager and advising on suitable equipment. What we got was an all-in-one service that helped to set up an efficient and ultra-healthy canteen. Thank you!

- Sarah Vickers

P&C President (2018 and 2019) Ashfield Public School

BLAKEHURST PUBLIC SCHOOL

“It’s a beautiful menu. It is amazing. And I’m surprised, with cucumber, carrot and tomatoes, normally kids don’t go for that, but they’re loving it. And its popular and it’s growing."

- Mary

Canteen staff member, Blakehurst Public School

“Blakehurst Public School has been working in collaboration with the School Food Project for the past 12 months. During this time, our canteen menu has transitioned to ensure that our students are accessing tasty, healthy food options on a daily basis. The School Food Project provided direct and ongoing support to the canteen manager and staff to ensure that they were able to confidently undertake the menu transitions and have continued to engage regularly with the canteen committee since the launch of the new menu, to ensure that the changes remain sustainable. We found the School Food Project staff to be friendly, professional and flexible in their approach. Our students and families have provided very positive feedback on the canteen changes and we thank the School Food Project for their role in implementing these positive changes.”

- Cameron Smyth-Gapps

Principal, Blakehurst Public School

DACEYVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOL

“I’ve been a canteen manager here for over 10 years. We used to sell frozen foods, chips toasties, flavoured milk. Now that we have the new menu everything is made on the premises which is fabulous. It’s going very very well and I’ve had parents come up and actually say how wonderful it’s going. And they’re really quite surprised. The kids have embraced it.”

- Lorraine

Canteen Manager, Daceyville Public School

RAMSGATE PUBLIC SCHOOL

“I would like to congratulate you and your team for making a real difference to our school canteen. The food is both nutritious and delicious!!!”

- Jodie Savellis

Assistant Principal, Ramsgate Public School

““The School Food Project have helped us to completely transform our canteen menu. Moving away from a heat-and-serve canteen to one that makes nutritious healthy lunch and snack options, students, staff and parents have provided an all-round positive response to the changes that have been made. The SPF team worked tirelessly to support our canteen managers and canteen committee to redesign the menu to allow for freshly cooked meals and snacks, as well as helped us in the redesign of the kitchen space to allow the meals to be cooked efficiently. The team also helped to promote the healthy school canteen idea to our community by attending school events and fundraisers where they would promote the changes and cook free samples, helping us to gain vital volunteer support.

In the initial stages, the School Food Project team also worked with the students to gather their feedback for menu options, offering free tastings. They also ran cooking classes for our Senior classes and provided the teachers with fantastic resources and teaching ideas in order to support the nutrition units, which the whole school taught in conjunction with the launch of the new school canteen. SFP also provided needed assistance in setting up our online ordering system. It is amazing now to see students and staff enjoying a large range of nutritious canteenmade meals throughout the week. Walking through classrooms and the playground at lunch time with the waft of freshly made chicken teriyaki or the crunch of the ever-popular Ramsgate Beach Box is a delight to see, with many visitors frequently commenting on the excellent variety of nutritious options available for purchase. Without the SFP team, it would have been a much longer road to travel to get our canteen to where it is today.”

- Lydia Ng

Assistant Principal, Ramsgate Public School

THE LIVING SCHOOL

"Not a mealtime has passed without at least one child saying the food is the best ever. It makes my heart sing because I know what I have given them is healthy and has contributed to their education and love of food. I could not have done it without the hard work of the SFP, who created the template, recipes and training for me to put into practice what has made our new canteen a success.”

- Kate Morgan

Canteen Manager, Living School, Lismore, NSW

“The thought of starting a canteen at Living School that could represent our ethos was daunting indeed. Where would we start? How do you provide food that is healthy and costed to a school’s budget? Enter The School Food Project.

Their formula for helping schools provide food that is nutritious, delicious and easy to produce should be on the plates of every school in Australia. The training The School Food Project provided to Living School to be able to deliver recipes enjoyed by all the children was a huge boost to the morale at our new school.

Each week, we get the most amazing feedback from the children, but we don’t need it, we can see from their empty plates that the food we are growing and serving has the tastes they want. The parents can have a day off the lunchboxes knowing their kids are eating well at a price they can afford.”

- John Stewart

Principal, Living School, Lismore, NSW

MOSS VALE PUBLIC SCHOOL

BIG BREAKFAST PROGRAM

“The School Food Project team provided much needed guidance and support with the introduction of our schools Big Breakfast focus. We were assisted with menu planning and organisational strategies to allow for a responsible approach to managing school funds to best meet the needs of the project’s focus. The knowledge and obvious passion of the School Food Project team to make real achievable differences to students and their nutritional choices in the school setting was inspirational. Easy, practical solutions were immediate alongside good nutritional facts, which helped our school to introduce a different start for students to ready themselves for learning through a nutritious big breakfast. Thank you to The School Food Project team - we couldn’t have had such a positive start without you beside us.”

- Susan Hilliar

Principal, Moss Vale Public School