Upper Rhymney Primary School
In response to the rising cost-of-living crisis and concerning child poverty rates in 2021, the Welsh government introduced free school meals across all primary schools in the country, introducing over 176,000 additional pupils to the existing programme.
The initiative was designed to ensure that every child has access to a nutritious meal during the school day, promoting healthier eating, and improving the students’ attainment whilst reducing health inequalities for lower-income families. With the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighting existing disparities, the policy represented a significant step towards creating a more equitable education system, where children of all backgrounds could thrive and learn without the burden of hunger.
Airedale’s Client
Before schools across the county could welcome the new provision, Caerphilly County Borough Council needed to address facility and equipment issues across 73 schools in the area before the September 2023 deadline. To ensure this deadline was met, they enlisted the Airedale Group, the UK’s leading commercial kitchen design and build specialist with 40 years of expertise.
One of these schools, Upper Rhymney Primary, needed a kitchen upgrade to meet this new challenge. Since 1859, the school has possessed an excellent record for delivering high-quality education to this former mining community in the Caerphilly village of Rhymney. However, their current dining infrastructure could not accommodate the new demand. With around 130 children to feed, the school needed a solution fast.
What Airedale Did Next
In just a 10-week turnaround, Airedale applied their extensive school kitchen expertise, surveying the school for its specific needs and composing an appropriate development plan. Then, the team got to work to implement the new equipment and facilities in time for the following academic year.
The initial plan involved addressing building regulations and registering the planning application and building control, as Upper Rhymney required the installation of an entirely new building. The proposed plan utilised a small section of the school’s outdoor space to lay the new groundwork, creating the new facility entirely from scratch. Although this initially involved relocating the school’s beloved student greenhouse to create the needed space, Airedale recognised its significance to the school and ensured a brand-new greenhouse was installed alongside the catering facility.
To avoid disrupting the academic year, the Airedale team ensured that most of the work was completed during the summer break, keeping the school’s current kitchen infrastructure in working order. Furthermore, Airedale Group’s Contracts Director, Pete Oliver, took his expertise outside of the kitchen and to the pupils themselves, leading a presentation for Upper Rhymney Primary School to give the pupils a better understanding of their new catering and dining space first-hand.
The Result
The kitchen was greatly received by staff and students alike, allowing Upper Rhymney to confidently meet the increase in demand. In addition, the new equipment facilitated the expansion of meal options for the students, advancing to pasta and salads as well as three food options per day plus dessert. Thanks to the expanded serving space, the catering staff can now display the day’s food options to the children, an advantage which has improved the overall catering and dining experience for the students.
“We felt in safe hands from the beginning of the project working with Airedale Group. Airedale’s Contracts Director, Pete Oliver, came to the school on many occasions to walk through the project plans in place and did, on a few occasions, move or amend the timetable to adjust to some of our requests. The work was completed over the summer break, so it had little or no impact on service as usual. Our catering staff were given a comprehensive handover of the new facility and received full training on all the new appliances. Any minor issues that we have encountered since have been resolved in a timely manner. I would have no hesitation in recommending Pete and Airedale Group in the future.” – Sally Rowland, School Clerk at Upper Rhymney Primary School
The school was one of several in the county that required a complete overhaul of its catering facilities that summer. Caerphilly was the only council in Wales to work with the Airedale Group on their school kitchen estate, and despite the scale of the projects, the county was notable for completing the project before any other, finishing on time and within budget.
