Steve Hatcher
Deputy Headteacher
St. Aidan’s Church of England High School, Harrogate
St. Aidan’s Church of England High School, Harrogate is a comprehensive with 1800 pupils on roll. Steve Hatcher has been Deputy Headteacher since 1989. He teaches for about ten hours per week.
He is responsible for managing the finance and resources at the school and he has been involved in school building work for the last fifteen years (£5 million in his own school), and acts as an adviser on projects around the country.
Seven years ago he introduced a new catering enterprise at St. Aidan’s, directly employing the staff and appointing a chef with a commercial background. Since 2001, there has been a transformation in the purchasing, preparation and delivery of food to the pupils as well as to the dining environment. Over 90% of pupils now eat school meals every day.
www.staidans.co.uk
Tony Cooke BSc MIHort FRGS FRSA
Programme Director
Year of Food and Farming
Tony was appointed by Sir Don Curry as Programme Director of the Year of Food and Farming in 2006. He is responsible for leading the delivery of the Year, which runs from September 2007 to July 2008. The Year is an industry-led initiative with full Government support and HRH The Prince of Wales as its Patron, aimed at feeding young minds with a respect and passion for good, healthy food.
He has also served as the independent Chairman of the Sustainable Farming and Food Strategy for the Yorkshire & Humber region since 2003 and holds non-exec board positions with a number of other organisations including Askham Bryan College, Business Link South Yorkshire and Yorkshire Rural Community Council and is a past non-executive director of The Regional Food Group for Yorkshire & Humber. He is also a Trustee of the Archbishop Holgate Hospital in West Yorkshire.
Tony is an active Fellow of both the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society for Arts, as well as being a member of both the Landscape Institute and the Institute of Horticulture. He farms in Yorkshire.
www.yearoffoodandfarming.org.uk
Contact the Programme Office at:
Year of Food and Farming
c/o Arthur Rank Centre
Stoneleigh Park
Stoneleigh
COVENTRY CV8 2LZ
Sharon Watters
Dietitian
St Aidan’s Church of England High School, Harrogate
Sharon is employed as a school dietitian through an agreement with the local foundation hospital. She is responsible for ensuring that school menus meet the Government standards, for training catering staff on the practical implications of these standards and for advising on menu and recipe changes to continue to meet standards.
Sharon facilitates educational sessions with pupils around aspects of healthy eating to encourage healthy choices and to ensure consistent and accurate advice. Se is available to students to answer queries on nutrition issues & to support them in making informed decisions around food & diet and therefore to ensure a whole school approach to healthy eating.
Alan Perkins
Business Manager
The King's School, Pontefract
Currently Alan's role is that of head of support staff and he is a member of the Senior Leadership Team. He has taken on many of the responsibilities formerly held by one of the deputy headteachers. He has supervised the school’s transfer of responsibility for both cleaning and catering from the Local Authority to the School, in addition to supervising the Extended Schools services and many aspects which are non-teaching.
His presentation will explore the history of catering within his school and the reason for going ‘in house’. It will examine the principles upon which the change was based and the successes and challenges since the change.
On the day he will focus on the schools key food policies and also look at the way forward and hopefully offer advice for those wanting to follow suit.
Jackie Crombie
Community Initiatives Manager
Greggs plc
Jackie has been working in the role of Community Initiatives Manager at Greggs plc since January 2005. Her remit is to oversee the charity work of Greggs in the wider communities in which it operates, and in particular to coordinate the Breakfast Club programme around the UK. Before Jackie joined Greggs she worked for 2 years as a Corporate Fundraiser for a youth development charity, and previous to this she spent 15 years in industry working in various sales and marketing roles.
Greggs have been funding breakfast clubs in primary schools in disadvantaged areas for the last 7 years and now fund 125 clubs. The Greggs Breakfast Club Scheme was initially a social initiative, with the aim of providing a simple, nutritious breakfast to children who might not otherwise have anything to eat before starting school. Research has shown that providing breakfast to children before school improves their concentration and achievement levels, as well as contributing towards improved attendance, punctuality and behaviour. What began as a social initiative now fits well into the healthy school agenda, and my presentation will demonstrate the benefits of breakfast clubs, and how schools have adapted the food offering over the years, with a case study from Newhall Park Primary School in Bradford.
Lesley Bartlett
Learning Mentor/Special Educational Co-ordinator
Newhall Park Primary School, Bradford
Lesley Bartlett is married with two daughters aged 12 and 15. She started her school involvement as a part-time volunteer when her children were at nursery. Lesley began her working life in optics and trained as an Optical Technician. In 2002 she became the Learning Mentor and focused particularly on children’s health. Lesley has implemented many healthy initiatives in school, i.e Breakfast Club, Omega 3, fruit at break time and milk for every child at lunchtimes, as well as working extensively with ECS, the schools lunchtime catering service, for the past 3 years. In September 2006 she became the Special Educational Co-ordinator which she does alongside her Mentoring responsibilities.
