St Joseph’s Comprehensive School

Creating a Chartwells Centre of Excellence

Creating lifelong memorable moments for secondary school students is central to our Chartwells Schools partnership with St Joseph’s Comprehensive School in Newport, where we’re proud to be part of the family.  

Combining our passion for nourishing food with St Joseph’s commitment to creating rewarding mealtime experiences for their students, we helped them review and improve their catering solutions to become a Chartwells Centre of Excellence.

Delivering experiences that go beyond the plate

Creating exceptional dining experiences for students means focusing on more than just the meals we prepare, which is why we work closely with Kerry, St Joseph’s dedicated Catering Manager, to create mealtimes and environments that help students become more confident when socialising and making dietary decisions.

For instance, we decorated the school’s dining hall with a vibrant mural of Welsh and English words, including ‘delicious’, ‘strength’ and ‘diverse’, to remind of our nutrition-first approach to mealtimes. By supporting St Joseph’s in becoming a Chartwells Centre of Excellence, we’ve also empowered our catering teams to realise their full potential, go above and beyond to deliver excellence to every student, and truly embody the Chartwells Schools promise.

Inspiring students and local communities through food

To foster a positive relationship between St Joseph’s students and healthy food, we engaged them at every stage of our catering process — actively listening to develop menus and meal offerings that inspire them. 

Committed to brightening young minds through nourishing food, we also encourage our students to embrace new flavours, ingredients and cuisines through themed culinary experiences. Recently, our executive chefs supported St Joseph’s dedicated catering teams in preparing a selection of Vietnamese dishes, from steamed buns to spiced dumplings, for the parents watching the school’s production of Miss Saigon.  

We also engage with the local community through great-tasting food, regularly inviting neighbouring schools to learn from our culinary teams. By sharing the Chartwells Schools message far and wide, we’re proud to have gone beyond our contracts to connect students to delicious food.

Supporting the training and development of our teams

Kerry originally began her Chartwells career as a Catering Assistant at St Joseph’s, working just a few hours each day. However, as she began her journey at an already successful and inspiring school, she quickly progressed by gaining operational experience and benefitting from the structured e-learning modules that are embedded within the Chartwells model.

During Kerry’s time as Unit Manager at St Joseph’s, she’s also instilled the same passion for development and continued learning both within her team and amongst other managers. This means that she has been able to cultivate a continual “wheel of development” in other catering teams in the area.