Monmouthshire County Council brought together chefs, partners and food champions from across Wales to celebrate the future of school food at Nourishing Futures: Celebrating School Food in Monmouthshire.

Held at Orchard Kitchen near Monmouth, the event showcased the vital role school catering teams play in providing nutritious, high-quality meals for children, while highlighting the progress being made in school kitchens across the county.

A key focus was the council’s partnership with Chefs in Schools, which is helping to transform school food locally by investing in skills, confidence and professional development. The programme supports catering staff to strengthen core cooking skills, improve nutrition knowledge and build a positive school food culture.

The event, celebrated a cohort of 28 school chefs who have completed the training and welcomed a new group of 15 beginning their journey.

Through the programme, teams are developing practical skills to use more fresh and locally sourced ingredients, reduce food waste and create nutritious, appealing meals that encourage children to try new foods and enjoy school lunches.

Attendees experienced the creativity growing within Monmouthshire’s school kitchens, with tasters prepared by school catering teams including pea guacamole, rainbow slaw, and Mexican-style tomato, rice and beans, and live cooking demonstrations over an open fire from award-winning chefs Sam Evans and Shauna Guinn at Hang Fire BBQ and artisan bread-making workshops.

The celebration reflected wider progress across the county, including increased from-scratch cooking, stronger links with local producers and a growing emphasis on food education and pupil engagement.

Cllr Sara Burch, Monmouthshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Rural Affairs, Housing and Tourism, said: “Our school catering teams are at the heart of every primary school, preparing nutritious and delicious food for every child, every day. Through programmes like Chefs in Schools, we are investing in the skills and confidence of our catering teams to cook from scratch, inspiring children to enjoy fresh, seasonal and locally sourced food.”

Naomi Duncan, Chief Executive of Chefs in Schools, said: “Monmouthshire has done something genuinely rare — it has put its catering teams at the heart of its ambitions for children. Helen and her colleagues have not just completed a training programme; they have changed what school food looks and tastes like for thousands of children across the county. Watching school chefs bake bread, taste new things and inspire the next cohort to do the same in a beautiful Monmouthshire setting, is a reminder of what this work is really about. We are incredibly proud of every one of them, and cannot wait to see what they cook up next.”