Catering

Our Chef - Alex Moody

Cooking has always been our Head Chef’s passion and from a very young age Alex Moody cooked at home with his parents. After leaving school he studied catering at South Downs College for two years and went on to an apprenticeship at a local hotel. Alex has spent the last seven years at Park working with Steve Cross, LACA School Chef of the Year. Alex won the South East LACA competition in 2021

At Park Community School, Alex and the school’s multi-award winning catering team, continue to redefine school food to ensure all our students receive a healthy well-balanced meal during the school day. Alex is developing and nurturing the talents within the catering team, whose members are rightly proud of the good food that has successfully been embedded into the life of the school and its community.

Alex and the team introduce the students to cuisines from around the world by, for instance, encouraging them to taste Korean kimchi, Middle Eastern tagines, and Japanese inspired sushi. Three days a week students work in the kitchen alongside our chefs and catering team as part of our Much More Than Just A School curriculum

The catering team work closely with the market garden team helping them to grow our own fruit and vegetables which are used within the school kitchens. We have reared over 200 pigs on our small holding; the meat is used in school lunches, meals within the community and at external events. Through the Market Garden they learn about Farm to Fork ethos and all that it entails.

The catering team played an important role in establishing the Munch Food programme in 2017. Munch provides everyone who comes with a hot two course meal every school holiday and on Thursday evenings. The school also opens on Christmas Day and, in 2021, 140 people across the age-range enjoyed a three course Christmas Lunch, with entertainment and a splendid visit by Father Christmas despite the challenges of Covid.

To further meet the needs of our community the catering team produce nutritious ready meals which are available for collection seven days a week from the Munch emergency freezer in our Dickinson Centre.

To encourage healthy eating beyond school, the team provides cookery lessons for families, where family members come together, cook a meal, eat some of it with us and have plenty remaining to take home.

In 2019, Park Community School was one of nine successful organisations selected by the Department for Education (DfE) to run holiday activities. As part of this, we produced a range of menus for daily meals; this was subsequently used by the DfE as good practice and formed the basis of the recently announced Holiday Activity Programme (HAF) which now runs across every local authority in England.

Fairtrade School

The Fairtrade Schools Award is a campaign that gives primary and secondary school students the opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding of global issues and the fact that fair trade is the solution for so many farmers and producers. The award aims to teach students how they can be involved in changing the world around them, encouraging them and empowering them to make a difference.

Park Community School has been awarded

• FairAware School
• FairActive School

Visit Fairtrade Schools for more information.

Tea Rooms at The Coach House

The Tea Rooms, situated in Staunton Park. The Coach House was built in the Nineteenth Century. As a result of Heritage Lottery funding the building and the surrounding park have been beautifully renovated for the benefit of the public.

We believe managing the Tea Rooms will give us the opportunity to showcase our skills and provide great food to the public.

Applying for Free School Meals

Please use this convenient on-line service to check if your child is eligible for Free School Meals. You can also apply for Free School Meals using this same on-line service, or you can download a form using the links below or ask for one at our school reception.

To complete a check you will need the following information for yourself, or the person you are checking on behalf of:

• Name, home address and email address.
• National Insurance Number or National Asylum Support Service reference number.
• Child's name, date of birth and school.

Magic Breakfast

Park Community School is proud to be in partnership with Magic Breakfast, providing healthy breakfasts to our pupils so that they are settled and ready to learn. Magic Breakfast provides Park Community with nutritious breakfast food to ensure children start their school day in the best possible way. Breakfast gives children the energy needed for the busy school morning, enabling them to focus on their lessons. Here at Park Community we are committed to ensuring no child is too hungry to learn.