Catering service recognised for school menu provision

Denbighshire Catering Service has achieved a Certificate of Compliance from the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) for its new 3-week school menu which started after the Easter holidays.

The service ensures all menus are balanced, analysed, and approved in line with the Healthy Eating in schools (Nutritional Standards and Requirements) (Wales) Regulations 2013.

In preparation for updated Welsh Government Regulations taking effect on 31st October 2026, the service is proactively introducing several healthy changes.

These include:

• Overhaling the menu to provide a wide range of home-cooked dishes.
• Reducing dessert offerings from five days a week down to two, with fruit-based options.
• Replacing desserts on the other three days with Fruit Wedges and locally sourced Llaeth y Llan Yoghurt.
• Introducing 50/50 bread for all sandwiches.

The School Catering Service was recently recognised as the best performing catering service at The Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) awards earlier this year.

This recognition, from The Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) is based upon comparisons with other school meals services from across the UK. It takes into account aspects such as paid and free meal uptakes, staff training, service performance and management of the service.

Councillor Diane King, Lead Member for Education, Children and Families said: “We are grateful to our catering staff for achieving this recognition through their continuing work to provide a better healthier menu to support our county pupils through their daily education.

“The catering service also remains committed to providing value for money in terms of the quality of food given to pupils across our schools”.

All Primary school pupils in Denbighshire are entitled to a free school meal and eligible parents, specifically those in receipt of certain benefits, are encouraged to officially apply for Free School Meals, as this application also grants access to the Student Essentials Grant.

For more information, parents can view the new primary menus on the Denbighshire School Meals website.