Barnsley Schools Catering was delighted to be recently named winners of the Marketing Award at the Public Sector Catering Awards.

Judges recognised the innovative borough wide, multi-media marketing campaign, to encourage free school meal registration and increase uptake, which has been a huge success.

As part of the campaign, the team’s mission was to increase the number of families accessing free school meals and provide children with healthy, balanced meals. The financial support through free school meals has the potential to save families £500 per child per year.

Barnsley School Catering hosted a range of activities to encourage families to register, including a pop up stall at Barnsley Markets where families could learn about the menus, hosting food discovery workshops in schools for pupils to try new foods, and an ‘invite your parent/carer to lunch day’ to sample the tasty menus and learn more about school meals.

Overall, free school meal registration rose by 27% in 2022. This means more children across the borough are now able to enjoy a healthy, nutritious school meal.

Wendy Popplewell, Executive Director for Core Services, said: “The service has experienced a real transformation in recent years and is playing a key role in supporting our Healthy Barnsley ambitions. I’m delighted to see that their efforts are being recognised by winning the prestigious Marketing Award and I’d like to congratulate all involved.”