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Nottingham City Council were joined by LACA Chair Peter McGrath last week to celebrate the first group of Catering Supervisors to complete Nottingham City Council’s Supervisory Development Scheme.

The LACA chair delivered a motivational speech to the group, relaying the importance of the professional workplace standards and clear structure within academic catering before presenting certificates to successful participants.

McGrath, said: “Nottingham City Council’s Catering Team is a pathfinder, one of the first providers to use the LACA developed professional workplace standards as part of the national school food plan.

“The Nottingham team not only thought about it, they planned it, resourced it and delivered it. Training is an essential part of this industry. It’s required to improve working conditions, ensure smart working and most importantly, improve outcomes for pupils and uptake of meals within schools”.

The course is broken down into practical and theoretical modules that teach finance skills, leadership development and provide the opportunity for individuals to engage in shared learnings and gain professional experience.

Part of the course involves staff working with Executive Chefs in Eat Culture, the in-house restaurant at Loxley House, which also serves as a ‘Centre of Excellence’ to Schools & Academies Catering Services.

This is a pilot that scheme that Nottingham City Council plan to roll out across the whole city, benefiting more than 60 schools and 18,500 pupils. Training schemes will also be extended to upskill Catering Assistants.

Going forward, LACA plan to create their own industry certification and will automatically be providing the Catering Supervisors who have completed the Nottingham City Council’s Supervisory Development Scheme with this certification.