The latest news and headlines from City Catering
Creative Writing Competition 2025
To celebrate National Writing Day, an annual celebration of the power of writing creatively, we are offering all pupils that attend one of our member primary schools the chance to win a £15 book token that can be used during this year’s summer holidays.
Today we’re launching or #Summer challenge to WIN a book voucher. We want to inspire children of all ages and abilities to get writing. To enter, we want to know why your child loves our school lunches and what their favourite foods/dishes are on our menus and why? There will be two prizes, for two categories. One for KS1 and and one for KS2.
The competition is open to all primary aged children attending one of our member schools.
To enter, parents and carers can:
1. Send a photo of your child's creative writing piece ( via our e-mail address)
2. E-mail directly to our e-mail address
3. Send a postal entry to the address in our T's 7 C's
Closing Date is the last day of term 22 July at 5pm.
Please state if your child is in KS1 or KS2. The winners will be chosen and notified week commencing 28 July 2025.
E-mail address - marketing@citycateringsouthampton.co.uk
We’ve joined the Good Grub Club family!
This summer, City Catering has joined the Good Grub Club family! The perfect blend of both our Lunch Crowd and Cooking at Home initiatives, Milbrook’s Good Grub Club has previously been ran by housing association, Abri who have switched to funding the programme. In partnership with the wonderful team at Colne Avenue Baptist Church we kicked off running the club with a fab session last week.
Hunger doesn’t wait for guidance
Hunger doesn’t wait for guidance. We have been waiting for information about how the Government wishes the support some of the most vulnerable children during this lockdown period, and we are still waiting. The support offered has been made through various last minute decisions, u-turns, and inconsistencies for the duration of the pandemic. This is not the way to support families.
Government u-turns on holiday food support
Over the weekend, the Government announced in the media that they were now (despite earlier votes to not) going to support vulnerable families and children at risk of food insecurity over the winter months. We were, of course, delighted with this decision as it recognises the increased need that families are experiencing right now. It has something that we have been watching closely in recent months.
Addressing Food Insecurity in Southampton
Today, the Holiday Provision Steering Group met for their quarterly meeting; and the first opportunity this term to regroup and understand the current need in regards to family food insecurity in general, and specifically, in the school holidays for Southampton. The topic certainly has captured the nation lately, and its important for the local community for those supporting families to continue to do so with partnership.
Our response to the Free School Meal extension vote
Our response to the recent Free School Meal extension debate and vote
Exciting funding news for our Cooking at Home project!
We have some exciting funding news for our Cooking at Home + Lunch Crowd projects - and we are delighted!
Case Study | How our support has helped Steph and her children
Read more about our beneficiary Steph and how our Cooking at Home and Lunch Crowd projects have supported her and her children, especially during covid-19
Offering holiday food provision support during the summer
A look at our Lunch Crowd project this support, supporting families at risk of food poverty across Southampton
Launching our free home-cooking support program
Discover more about our home cooking education program, with recipes, YouTube videos, Facebook support groups and more.
The results of how access to food in Southampton has been affected by Covid-19
Find out how Covid-19 has affected food access for the Southampton community. Download our illustrative reports here for all the latest statistics and data.
Get #QuizzingForGood and help us fund family meals over the Summer
We invite you to join in on our #QuizzingForGood fundraising event! In exchange for a £3 donation, you’ll receive everything you need to entertain your friends and family. Consider boosting your donation by asking for donations too.
Why timely guidance and support on Free School Meals is vital
There are so many different aspects of this pandemic that is placing pressure on households, business and services. A huge concern for us, as school caterers and advocates for equal access to good food, is the access to healthy food and the challenges that Covid-19 creates. The Free School Meal scheme, in ordinary times, allows for many children to access a healthy, hot meals that they otherwise may not be able to access. Many families struggle to afford food. For many, this can means no hot meal, at all. Or parents skipping meals to ensure that their children remain fed. We already know that this risks present itself more so in the school holidays, when the scheme is not running. This happens, up and down the country, and a pandemic and the financial crisis that looms does little to prevent this very real risk from increasing.