A NEW centre devoted to teaching school cooks how to prepare healthy meals is set to open in Worcester, it has been announced.

Based at Worcester College of Technology, it will be one of eight School Feast (Food Excellence and Skills Training) centres in the country.

The School Food Trust said the centres would give cooks the skills they needed to ensure school meals are of the highest quality and meet nutritional standards.

Prue Leith, chairman of The School Food Trust, said: “School cooks are the unsung heroes – they are responsible for feeding millions of children every day and play a key role in the health and wellbeing of the future generation of adults.

“So I am delighted that Worcester College of Technology is leading the way in nurturing the school cooks of the future.”

On offer at the centre will be a comprehensive package of training and qualifications which will cover everything from food preparation and cooking, food safety and kitchen management to support work in schools and nationally recognised qualifications at NVQ Level 2 or above.

The training will also help school cooks meet new nutritional standards which are coming into place in schools across England.

Children’s Minister Baroness Morgan said: "School cooks are too often the unsung heroes in our schools. We want to raise their status among fellow staff, pupils and parents, acknowledging the highly skilled jobs they do."

There are already several Feast centres across the country, the closest of which to Worcester is at Bournville College, Birmingham.

The seven other new centres to be established alongwise the one in Worcester will be in London, Doncaster, Sunderland, Manchester, Lancashire, the East Midlands, and the South East.

No one from Worcester College of Technology was available to comment on the announcement.