Catering

Catering

At Red Gates, we employ our own catering team to ensure that we can provide the best dinner time experience for our pupils. We recognise that many of our children may have limited diets and be reluctant to try new foods. For this reason the school have worked closely with the catering team and parents to devise a menu that reflects the pupils preferred choices, whilst offering a varied menu to support our pupils to explore and try new foods. Following parent feedback, foods from a wider range of cultures are being added to the menu.

We offer ‘taster plates’ for pupils who have a limited diet. These include a sample of everything on the menu (within dietary requirements for that child) so they can begin to explore and taste a wider range of foods. All of the meat used for dinners is Halal.

Pupils have access to a choice of meals each day which cater for a range of dietary requirements as well as having access to a self-service salad bar.
Dinner time at Red Gates is a fantastic learning opportunity to develop important daily living skills and communication. Pupils have access to a range of communication strategies to support them to make their choice of dinner and are encouraged to do so with increased independence. Staff support pupils to develop their ability to sit as a class group around a table and feed themselves with increased independence. Pupils are also supported to learn to clear away after themselves.

In order to support our pupils develop their independence when eating and drinking, we work closely alongside the Occupational Therapy (OTs) and Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT) Teams. The OTs are able to assess pupils to see if specialist equipment is needed to promote independence such as angled spoons or specialist plates.

The SaLT team are able to provide robust eating and drinking plans for pupils who need them. These are shared with parents, the class team and the catering staff so everyone is aware of how to keep the pupils safe when eating and drinking.