For the first time this year all sessions on Tuesday 7th July at the Birmingham Hilton Metropole will be open to delegates, visitors and exhibitors. This year the Forum will be hosted by Phil Raynsford, who will introduce Brad Pearce to offer a welcome and an update on the work of the association over the past year and outline key issues and challenges.
He will be followed by School Food People ambassadors Nadim & Tanya Ednan-Laperouse OBE, who will give an overview of the progress being made by Natasha’s Allergy Research Foundation.
The keynote speaker on the first day of the Forum is Matthew Burton, head teacher at Thornhill Community Academy and Educating Yorkshire. He will talk about his experiences as a teacher and head teacher in the spotlight, but also on the importance of school food for his pupils.
Brad Pearce commented: “The only national UK event dedicated solely to school food, it remains a must-attend date that brings together over 1,000 professionals from across the school food sector for two days of discovery, learning, and connection. I would encourage you as a school caterer to join us to find out how your service can navigate through the current difficult landscape.
“With the continuing disparity in free school meals funding across the UK’s four nations, discussions about how the existing system could be made fairer, and proposed changes to the School Food Standards looming, it has never been more important to establish common ground and a collective voice on the importance of school food and the growing pressures operators are facing to provide this vital service.
“As chair of The School Food People, I am really looking forward to seeing you all there to enjoy the forum insight, the competitions, the awards, some fantastic product development, and the chance for some valuable networking. And this year there is an additional feature to celebrate 120 years of school meals - the School Food Museum pop up visitor attraction, where you will see typical school meals over the decades.”
On day two of event, the keynote speaker is Spencer Kelly, who will give a whistlestop tour of artificial intelligence and robotics. He has been hosting conferences, chairing panels, and presenting keynotes on technology around the world for almost 20 years.
Other confirmed speakers include Jayne Jones, chief executive of the Scottish Food Commission, past The School Food People (LACA) chair Judith Gregory, Colm Bradley from Education Authority Northern Ireland, and Dr Sara Long, a research fellow at Cardiff University working on improving health, wellbeing and education outcomes of children and young people.
There will also be an update from the Department for Education (DfE), which has had a big focus on school food since the change of Government in July 2024. It will update delegates on the breakfast pilots, the review of school food standards and the upcoming expansion of free school meals linked to Universal credit.
Jayne Jones, a former local authority head of catering in Scotland, will share her initial thoughts and ideas on what impact the Scottish Food Commission would like to have. As a new body looking at food strategy in Scotland there will be an inevitable focus and impact on school food.
The May Senedd elections in Wales could have a significant impact on the school food service, and Judith Gregory, education catering business manager at Cardiff Council, will give an overview of the potential impacts, including the rolling out UFSM in secondary schools and the review of healthy eating regulations.