We are now running our school cafeteria on our own.
We are very proud of the fantastic start we’ve had to this new venture!



In past years we have contracted outside catering agencies to run the cafeteria for us. This was the simpler solution from a school management point of view, as we had no direct responsibility for the day to day running of the kitchen with its business and nutritional implications. However it also meant we had very little say about the quality, quantity, choice and pricing of the food served to our students.

We felt we could do it better; we knew we could provide the right balance by making our own decisions and choices.
In September Mrs Harrison, our School Business Manager, took over the running of the business from our previous caterers with the help of the Kitchen Manager, Mrs Cooper and the Finance Admin Team.

We now buy all our food from as many local suppliers as possible especially our fresh meat, fruit and vegetables. We hope to be able to run this venture at zero cost to the school and pass on any profits by further subsidising the cost of the food to our students and by improving the working conditions for our dedicated canteen staff. We aim to continually monitor the costs and products to achieve this goal.

We have revolutionised the cafeteria methods with a new Cashless Catering system which allows thumb scanners to speed the process through the tills. It has also allowed Free School Meal students to obtain their entitlement anonymously which a great improvement. This coupled with great food at great prices we believe Port Cafe will continue to grow in popularity. It is lovely to see the numbers of students eating a hot, freshly cooked midday meal growing daily. This is a tribute to our fantastic Chef, Mr Shailer, who cooks these fresh meals everyday and encourages the students to try his menu of the day with his chatty banter and friendly manner. We love him!

In addition to mid morning break and lunchtime service, don’t forget our cafeteria is also open for our popular breakfast club from 7.30 to 8.15 am serving bacon butties, toast, cereal and hot drinks. Couple this with a game of table tennis – what a great way to start the day!

Now the canteen staff work for Portchester School the future of Port Cafe looks exciting with plans for us all to work together and be involved in curricular and after school activities with our students and their parents. We will update you with news on any developments as they evolve.

We encourage feedback from our students, parents and staff and we will be circulating a questionnaire in due course.
In the meantime if you have any comments, thoughts or questions then please click here

N.B. As much as we would like to cater for a students’ tastes for chips, chocolate and all things unhealthy, we are restricted by Government legislation and guidelines, so please click here for further details on Nutritional Standards for Schools.