The Heart of The School An interview

THE HEART

OF THE SCHOOL

Natalie Arestis talks to the ‘incredible Bella Henry’, the manager of Notting Hill & Ealing High School’s highly regarded Catering Department.

Photos by NHEHS

Food is incredibly important at Notting Hill & Ealing High School, GDST (NHEHS). When I asked what we missed about school during lockdown, students and staff mentioned the amazing food produced by the incredible Bella Henry (pictured right), our Catering Manager. Bella runs an extremely imaginative and effi cient food enterprise and leads a itchen that fi lls many with pride as well as nutrition!

With over 1,000 meals daily to produce, the NHEHS menu is huge and stocked full with all the variety required for a healthy palette – as well as some legendary recipes which have stood the test of time. The result is a blend of the adventurous and the traditional with a level of choice second to none.

Each day brings a colourful display of healthy food. A daily menu includes choices designed to tantalise and introduce exciting new avours, encouraging our girls from age four all the way to 18 to develop a positive and adventurous relationship with food. The menu rotates every three weeks which keeps it exciting. Unlike many independent schools, NHEHS runs its own kitchen, employing its own staff.

Meanwhile, Bella works tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that those girls with dietary requirements (e.g. vegan or gluten free) and those with allergies are able to enjoy as much variety as their peers. And with every themed School event, such as Science Week, the kitchen gets creative dishing up surprise after surprise. Creativity, choice and collaboration are the key ingredients of a healthy palette at NHEHS making lunchtime one of the most exciting times of the school day. een to fi nd out more behind the workings of this enormous operation, I asked Bella to share some of her secrets with me.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your career and what led you to become Catering Manager at NHEHS. I started working in a bar and then was poached by Esporta Health and Leisure Club to run their food and beverage department where I gained my catering – and crucially – management experience. I joined NHEHS in 2004. At the time, NHEHS was looking to completely redesign and remodel the kitchen and securing that change needed direction and inspiration. It was half its size back then – and, if you can imagine this, there were carpets in the dining room!

The impact of COVID-19 has been huge

If kitchens are the heart of a home, hen you ha e defi ni ely c ea ed something equivalent at NHEHS. How do you work with SLT to deliver an e fi cien and e ec i e se ice We have an operations meeting every Monday which is made up of SLT members from both our Junior and

Senior Schools. It also includes our premises manager, DFO and the marketing department. We discuss events, logistics relating to how the dining room is set up and any changes we need to make. I work separately with the DFO and Finance anage on budgeting and staffi ng he budget is reviewed on a monthly basis.

Given the catering department plays such a vital role in school life, what are your guiding principles in designing a menu? Quality, balance, variety, with a focus on sourcing food locally and being environmentally friendly. I can’t tell you the hours I spend quality-checking all the food we purchase. I try to use local suppliers and small businesses as much as possible. It’s important to support our local community and I can pop in and check their premises are clean and hygienic.

Ensuring that our girls have a balanced diet is imperative, so I make sure each meal e ects this hateve thei dieta needs or preference. We have introduced tempeh for example in our vegan meals, which provides a brilliant source of protein. A system of bands worn by our Junior School girls helps us ensure the correct food products are given; yellow bands for allergies, green bands for vegetarians and pink bands for religious dietary requirements.

I work hard to make sure our meals are e citing and va ied We fi nd inspi ation from all cultures. Offering variety on the salad ba is also massivel impo tant he girls love olives – we use 5kg olives per day, sometimes more!

I try to use local suppliers and small businesses as much as possible

One of the more unique aspects of the way you work is your involvement with the Food Committee. How involved do the girls actually get in shaping the menu and the catering service more generally? e he ood ommittee pla s a huge pa t in shaping the menu he gi ls feedbac is so important to ensuring the menu satisfi es all ne of the gi ls commented at my last meeting, “I like attending this meeting as I know we are listened to, action is always taken and we see the changes”.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the way you work; what sort of changes have you had to make to ensure the catering machine still functions? still functions? he impact of has been huge he impact of has been huge mainly from a logistical perspective. We mainly from a logistical perspective. We have completel emoved self se vice he have completel emoved self se vice he catering team now serves all food unless it catering team now serves all food unless it is pre-wrapped. I have completely changed is pre-wrapped. I have completely changed team members’ roles and daily tasks to team members’ roles and daily tasks to ensure they are keeping two metres apart. ensure they are keeping two metres apart.

We are sanitising more and preparing We are sanitising more and preparing pre-wrapped cutlery. I have designed a pre-wrapped cutlery. I have designed a new layout for the kitchen with a one new layout for the kitchen with a one way in and way out system, marking the way in and way out system, marking the oo s and alls ith a o s and social oo s and alls ith a o s and social distancing stickers. distancing stickers.

he dining oom has been ca ved up so that different year groups can come in and out different ways and not breach thei bubbles his has changed the a main meals are being served. We have also had to remove hot desserts, so we now pre-wrap all puddings. We have reduced the menu to a two-week rotating menu, changing half-termly to keep some variety.

If you could summarise the best thing about running the Catering Department at NHEHS in a couple of sentences, what would you say? It is great to have the freedom to make my own decisions and having a good team of staff with different ideas and talents. But most of all it’s the satisfaction of seeing the pupils receive their food and the excitement on their faces when they see new food offers or their favourite meals. You should see their faces when sushi is being offered ... pure glee! ●

NATALIE

ARESTIS is the Communications Manager at Notting Hill & Ealing High School. GDST