Hello and welcome to the first Rummies blog this year! The aim of this blog is to keep you all updates with the exciting things that take place within our bistro! So I thought we better start at the beginning by explaining the aims of Rummies. Our bistro was set up over two years ago to give our students the opportunity to develop catering skills in a 'real' environment. Every week we have over thirty students working in the bistro. Students practice their catering skills, food hygiene and safety skills and front of house and service techniques. Throughout the sessions our students are encouraged to work as independently as possible. As well as the valuable work experience, all of our students are working towards a BTech level one/two and a food hygiene certificate. Many of our pupils are attending regular work placements in local establishments such as The Tavern on the Hill and Cafe Vienna. Over the past two years we have had numerous visitors to our bistro, including our local MP Chris Green, The Mayor of Bolton, John Jones (a chef who appeared on Master Chef the Professionals) and a fantastic local company called Rivington Chocolates. Last term we had several highlights. In September we saw the return of our well established weekly meals. Due to their success we now have two sittings to ensure all of our hungry customers are fed. Another highlight in September was our Macmillian coffee morning. Our students spent the previous day making a selection of delicious cakes. Rumworth staff were invited to take part in Rummies bake off. A range of delightful cakes were entered and then judged by our headteacher and Steph Sharratt from the local charity Breaking Barriers. October was an equally exciting month. At the start of the month we hosted a successful breakfast event. The customers were so pleased with our students they immediately booked their next meeting with us. As well as continuing with our weekly meals we managed to fit in making some beautiful wedding cupcakes and two trips. One to a local café and another to judge a Bake Off at our neighbouring school. This was an opportunity our students relished and took very seriously. The definite highlight of October was receiving a Bronze Award from gift of a wedding. This award was for supporting this fantastic charity on a number of occasions in the last academic year. This is a huge achievement for our school bistro as the majority of the other winners were big businesses. We look forward to working with Gift of a Wedding in the very near future. During November Rumworth school participated in a whole school war week. In Rummies we decided to make the type of food that soldiers and families ate in World War One. Rumworth students visited our bistro and sampled the food. This was a fantastic opportunity for our students to work alongside younger students. On the second day of war week Rummies welcomed Steph Sharratt into the bistro to lead a cake decorating session. During the session we decorated cupcakes and painted a remembrance cake with edible paints. Our favourite part of November has to be the trip to The Cake and Bake show at Event City. Ten of our hardworking bistro students visited the exhibition. Our students took part in a bake off challenge, watched celebrity chefs cook live, collected recipes and tried numerous delicious samples. A fantastic day was had by all. December turned out to be our busiest month so far! Over forty Christmas lunches were served to our amazing regular customers. Turkey, root vegetable mash, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, honey glazed parsnips, Yorkshire puddings, pigs in blankets and a delicious gravy was all made and served on each day of service. As well the Christmas meals, we hosted a breakfast networking event, a Head teacher’s lunch and made and sold a selection of Christmas cakes. After a restful two weeks we returned in January ready to start the New Year. Due to the success of the previous year we decided to start the year with a healthy eating focus. Our healthy weekly meals have been very popular and we have decided to continue this theme into February. The first day of February was an important date in our diary. Margaret Asquith the Chief Executive of Bolton Council came to celebrate a very special birthday at Rummies. Our Rummies and Lifebridge students made a fabulous cake and cupcakes for the very special event. We have a lot to look forward to at Rummies. Our weekly meals continue to be a success. We are excited to continue our sponsorship with AFC Masters Football for All League. Also this month we are catering once again for the Mayor of Bolton and Lifebridge! Our students are gaining a valuable set of skills and being given exciting opportunities by working in Rummies. We are so excited to see what the future holds for some of Rummies stars! To book a meal in our bistro or offer work experience to our pupils please contact reception on 01204 333600 or email Rebecca Wood directly at [email protected]
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Hello and welcome to our next blog entry. It’s hard to believe we are in the summer term already! We’ve seen our student’s make some amazing progress since our last blog entry. Every time we set our students a challenge they exceed themselves. We celebrated some great successes last half term. One of our proudest achievements was the afternoon tea we made and served to Margaret Asquith, the Director of Education for Bolton. The students worked for hours preparing the food and then served the food to her. Later that evening Margaret tweeted about how much she enjoyed the experience. Hopefully she will visit us again in the near future! Over the last few months Rummies have developed a relationship with a chef called Jon Jones. Jon owns The Farmers Arms in Darcy Lever and appeared on Masterchef the professionals. In March Jon visited Rummies for lunch. He worked with our fantastic students who prepared a three course meal for him and our other visitors. Jon commended the food and even asked for a recipe for one of the courses. The week after the meal we visited Jon at The Farmers Arms for lunch. Rummies students enjoyed a Mad Hatters tea party experience. We sampled food such as a goats cheese cheesecake, a roast dinner and Eton Mess soup. The food and experience was amazing for our students (and staff!)
We are looking forward to a busy summer term. Future events include a buffet for 35, a garden party buffet for 150, weekly lunches, cake decorating and our Btech practical exams. I’m quite sure our determined students will once again will do it!
What a busy first half term! It’s been a full half term since our last blog entry and it has definitely been a busy one! After an indulgent Christmas, we decided January was the time to introduce our healthier meal options into the bistro. This is something that our staff, customers and students embraced. Throughout January we served dishes such as chicken and vegetable kebabs, shepherd’s pie filled potato skins, jacket potatoes, rainbow salads, chilli con carne, homemade soups and oven baked fish and chips. We even kept our sweet toothed customers happy by making a healthier version of their favourite puddings. January also saw the visit of the Mayor of Bolton for afternoon tea. Students were kept busy in the days leading up to the event by making their own bread and planning menus. Once again our students excelled themselves with their catering and hospitality skills. We served a variety of sweet and savoury dishes which included mini salt beef bagels, cheese triple decker sandwiches, pinwheel wraps, Ploughman’s scones, mini cheese pasties, lemon slices, mini Victoria sandwich cakes and shortbread. The Mayor thoroughly enjoyed her visit to Rummies and has promised to return again soon. As well as the special visit from the Mayor we have hosted several afternoon tea events, supplied a buffet to the Parent Partnership team and hosted a lunch for the Head teachers of Bolton. During the first week in February we celebrated National Breakfast Week by hosting our first parent’s morning alongside Magic Breakfast. During the morning our parents took part in discussions, activities and taste tests. The definite highlight for all was the cooking session led by our sixth form students. Our students taught the parents how to make a sugar free banana bread. These sessions allowed us to demonstrate the confidence and skills our students have acquired while working in Rummie’s. We look forward to hosting other events with Magic breakfast in the near future. The second week in February was equally as busy with Rummies hosting a Networking Breakfast for local businesses. Over twenty local businesses attended and enjoyed breakfast made by our students. Some excellent connections were made throughout the morning. As well as the meals and special events that have taken place this term, we have been also been developing our students cake decorating skills. Rummies have been commissioned to make two cakes and have also produced and sold Valentines cupcakes to students and staff. Last week we were lucky enough to welcome Steph Sharratt into Rummies to help teach our students cake decorating skills. A huge thank you to Steph for giving up her time to help. After such a busy half term we show no signs of slowing down. This week we are welcoming Margaret Asquith for Afternoon tea. The following week Jon Jones from the Farmers Arms is coming to eat lunch prepared by our students. Our final task for the term is a breakfast meeting for the Head teachers of Bolton. All this is alongside our weekly lunches that are served to Rumworth staff, Ladybridge High staff, Bolton Music Service and LifeBridge staff and students! To reward our students for their hard work we are taking them for lunch to The Farmers Arms. The final thing I want to mention is how proud we are of our Rummies students. As well as the hard work above all of our students are well on their way to passing a BTech qualification and eleven students have passed their Food Hygiene qualification! Hello and welcome to the very first Rummies blog! The aim of this blog is to keep you all updates with the exciting things that take place within our bistro! October brought more experiences and challenges for our pupils. On the 1st of October Rummies volunteered its services to the charity A Gift of a Wedding. Two days of hard work (alongside our usual service days) followed and once again our students gave it their all. Within 48 hours we had prepared a high class buffet suitable for 16 people. Our students once again experienced working under pressure and to a strict deadline. Rummies would like to take this opportunity to send our best wishes to the couple who got married and thank Gift of a Wedding for allowing us to cater for such a special cause. The definite highlight of November has to be the trip to The Cake and Bake show at Event City. The organisers of this amazing event kindly provided our organisation with free tickets. Twenty-four of our bistro and food technology students visited the exhibition over two days. Our students took part in a bake off challenge, watched celebrity chefs cook live, collected recipes and tried numerous delicious samples. A fantastic day was had by all. Over the past few months we have made a variety of dishes but there are a few dishes that stand out as favourites by our students and customers. A favourite in October was the afternoon tea we prepared for teachers from Ladybridge high school. In November we held a Diwali special. Our pupils made two curries, rice and their own Nan bread. Our customer feedback was fantastic. We have a lot to look forward to at Rummies. This week we are holding our first Mexican special. The following week we are preparing Christmas lunch for over thirty customers. Next term will see the start of our collaboration project with primary schools. The aim is for our students to teach younger students and pass on their skills. At Rummies we believe in our pupils, we know they can and will achieve. As our school motto says "you can do it, we will help." |
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October 2017
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