Oundle school food

[KookyQuoter]

Hi all,

We’re considering Oundle for one of our children. One topic that keeps coming up is the food – and not in the most positive light. Most of the comments I’ve found are quite mixed, and many are a few years old, so I’m wondering if things have improved since then.

Does anyone have more recent experience with the school’s catering? Have they changed the caterer or made any notable improvements?

Would love to hear from any current parents.

Thanks so much!

They’ll be doing what most private schools are doing and cost-cutting.
First step- leave the teacher pension scheme and freeze teacher pay.
Step 2- cut RIGHT back on food
Step 3 - have teachers buy their own glue sticks/ card/ resources
Step 4 - don’t replace broken and old technology
Step 5 - pay social media manager to make it all LOOK good.
Ugh.

Our kids have been to 5 schools between them. With the exception of the state primary the food always starts out well and heads down hill.. state primary was never good food.. incredibly salty and over cooked..

I’ve got children at Oundle. 5 (?) years ago they outsourced catering (to Sodexo I think the company was called) and the food nosedived. I was one of many parents who complained! But they cancelled the contract so 3 (?) years ago it went back to how it was. For most houses they have their in house chefs/cooks who cook the food on site in the house kitchen for approx 60 pupils. A few houses have shared dining where it’s one catering team to two houses.
I think the food is about average for schools. It’s not fine dining but it’s serves a purpose and provides a decent variety of food. You don’t get the wide choice that you do at whole school canteens but the food is cooked better on account of smaller volumes.
speaking to my dc, I have no need to complain and when I’ve popped in and had a look, I thought the food was pretty good. Sunday roasts are excellent !

The school food is good to start with and from there it may tend to fall downhill a bit.The food can be REALLY NICE sometimes, especially on parent visits, and special days (e.g. USA day where they serve BBQ ribs which are nice). The boarding houses on saturday tend to have a house special meal where the pupils get to choose what meals they get.