Catering

Eat healthy, live well


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.


Park Catering Service


Cross&Moody | Our Brands

These brand favourites have been developed by our award winning chefs Steven Cross and Alex Moody. All product used are of the best quality always try to use local seasonal organic produce.

Cross and Moody brand logo


Park Porkies

Park Community School have developed its own Pork based products which are now used in school and sold to external customers.

  • Pulled Pork
  • Park Porkies Sausages

Park Eggs

We Currently have 29 chickens on site whose eggs are available to purchase by staff, students and the public



Local & Organic Food

From summer 2016 Park Community School kitchens are now using seasonal, local and organic produce.

Our Suppliers

Park Community School using local and organic produce in their school menu.




Public Sector Catering Awards Winner 2020

Education Award - Park Community School Catering Team

Chef of the Year - Steven Cross

Park Community School are thrilled that we scooped both Education Catering Award and Steven Cross for Becoming the Public Sector Chef of the year, it’s not every day you win these prestigious awards.

Public Sector Catering Award 2020

Head Chef Steven Cross worked with Tilda throughout Hotober to create amazing onepot vegan dishes. Why not check them out at the link attached and create your own one pot dish.

Click here for the recipe.





LACA Award 2021

Park Community School we are very proud to say that Alex Moody our Head chef has won the 2019 LACA School Chef of the Year Regional final.

Alex competed in the regional heats seeing off the shortlisted contestants from schools all over the south east region.

Entrants have 90 minutes to prepare, cook and serve an imaginative, school compliant two course menu including a minimum of one different Quorn product in the main course and a dessert with a 50% fruit content, suitable for serving to 11 year old pupils, primary year 6 or secondary year 7.


LACA Award 2019

Park Community School we are very proud to say that Steven Cross our Head chef has won the 2019 LACA School Chef of the Year.

Steven progressed through Regional and National finals seeing off thousands of other school caterers and be crown overall champion.

Entrants have 90 minutes to prepare, cook and serve an imaginative, school compliant two course menu including a minimum of one different McDougalls product in each course, suitable for serving to 11 year old pupils, primary year 6 or secondary year 7.


LACA Award 2018

Park Community School have made the finals of this prestigious awards for 2018

Every year the LACA Awards for Excellence acknowledge individuals and teams of people who continue to make a real difference in education catering. Good management, strong performances and high achievements deserve to be recognised at any time. Acknowledgement of effort is particularly important to not only reward but sustain motivation.

LACA - Much More than just a School



LACA - Much More than just a School





LACA - Much More than just a School




Educatering Excellence Award 2019 - Winner

Social and Good Award

Educatering Excellence Award 2018 - Winner

Secondary School Caterer of the Year

Educatering Excellence Award 2017 - Finalist

Self-Managed School Caterer of the Year

Educatering Excellence Award 2016 - Finalist

Newcomer of the Year - Steven Cross

Employees who are new to a company or are in a new role within their existing company who have made an impact within the past 2 years.

Judges look for evidence based examples of how the individual has shown outstanding commitment to their new roles and enhanced the performance of the school meal provision.

  • Park Community School Educatering Excellence Awards 2016 - Newcomer of the Year
  • Park Community School Educatering Excellence Awards 2017 - Secondary School Caterer of the Year
  • Park Community School Educatering Excellence Awards 2018 - Secondary School Caterer of the Year
  • Park Community School Educatering Excellence Awards 2019 - Secondary School Caterer of the Year

For more information about Educatering Awards please visit their website.





Soil Association Food for Life

Park Community School has been awarded the Bronze award which means that our food is local, ethical, sustainable and fresh.


Bronze Standards include
  • No undesirable additives or trans fats.
  • At least 75% of dishes are freshly prepared from unprocessed ingredients.
  • Meat is from farms which satisfy UK welfare standards.
  • Eggs are from cage-free hens.
  • Compliance with national standards or guidelines on food and nutrition.
Soil Association Food for Life - Bronze School Award



Silver Standards include
  • Ethical and environmentally friendly food.
  • Making healthy eating easy.
  • Championing local producers.
Soil Association Food for Life - Silver School Award


Gold Standards include
  • Double the points of Silver.
  • Sourcing ethical and environmentally friendly food.
  • Making healthy eating easier.
  • Sourcing free range pork and poultry.
  • Championing local food producers.

For a full list please visit the Soil Association website.

Soil Association Food for Life - Gold School Award



Gold Award - Press Release





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.

Park Community School Fairtrade Awards - FairAware and FairActive




Park Catering Service

Our award winning in-house chef led catering team prides itself on producing food that is appealing to a range of audiences, meets statuary guidelines and is sourced in the best way possible. We can provide:

  • Award winning Chef led catering
  • Consultancy and support services
  • Advice on the re-branding of your provision and, if necessary, create this with you.
  • Work with your business manager to set up new suppliers
  • Contact your local Environmental Health team and set the school up with them
  • Train all your kitchen colleagues
  • Work with your chef during the first weeks of service
  • Provide menu packs
  • Provide ongoing telephone and support visits throughout the year
  • Event catering
  • Function catering

If you would like to know more about how we can support you, please contact our Catering team at or call 02392 489 800

Park Community School Catering Service Logo




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.

Tea Rooms at The Coach House page
Tea Rooms at The Coach House



Free School Meals

Free school meals are available only to children whose parents/guardians are in receipt of one or more of a specific list of benefits.

  • Income Support.
  • Income-based Job Seekers' Allowance.
  • Income-related Employment and Support Allowance.
  • Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
  • the Guaranteed element of State Pension Credit.
  • Child Tax Credit.
  • Working Tax Credit.

For more information regarding Free School Meals please visit the Hampshire County Council website.

Sweet treats, lovingly prepared




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.
Apply Now! Account Balance
Kitchen Staff serving healthy school meals



MUNCH

Ensures that no child, no matter what school or age need go hungry during the holidays.

As a school we were aware of the food poverty that some of our community experience and were concerned our students were going hungry. This was reinforced when our local community told us how the food bank was consistently running out of food. We set up a community group to tackle food poverty in our area and in April 2017 MUNCH was born.

For more information view our Munch page.





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.

Kitchen Staff serving healthy school meals