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The newly joined schools include: Elburton Primary School, Hooe Primary Academy, Ford Primary School, Hyde Park Infants School, Hyde Park Junior School, Plaistow Hill Primary School, Pomphlett Primary School, Victoria Road Primary School and Widewell Primary School.

CATERed was formed in 2015 between the Council’s then loss-making education catering service and local schools. It remains unique in the UK, operating in the way it does with schools cooperatively committing and sharing their budgets for school food.

This ensures that pupils in all the schools who are part of the group can receive great tasting, freshly prepared, hot school food made from fresh, seasonal, locally and regionally sourced ingredients and produce.

The reasons for coming to CATERed include the existing relationship they had with the Trust as well as the management of the service, staff and training, procurement and menu development.

Brad Pearce, managing director of CATERed and immediate past chair of LACA, said: “We all know that it's been a tough three years for everyone and this is, perhaps, never more apparent than with the provision of school lunches where frontline staff worked throughout the pandemic and school closures to ensure that the children and families most in need continued to receive lunches either in school or via weekly food parcels.

“I know from my year as LACA chair the impacts felt by colleagues up and down the country with food inflation, staff recruitment and inadequate levels of Government funding. So it’s great to announce that a further nine schools in the city have joined the cooperative and now receive services from CATERed from the start of this term.

“The positive message that this sends to all schools and multi-academy trusts locally and regionally about how working cooperatively can achieve so much more cannot be under-estimated. It looks like being a really interesting year with many opportunities.”