Catering Changes – November 2026

Dear Parents and Carers

We have recently completed a comprehensive federation-wide procurement process for catering services. To ensure a rigorous, transparent, and thorough tender exercise, the process has been supported by the Litmus Partnership, specialists in education catering procurement.

We are delighted to announce that Innovate, part of the Impact Food Group (IFG), has been appointed as our new catering provider. The new contract with CLF commenced on 1 September 2026, Kingsmead will go live on November 2nd and preparations for a smooth transition are well underway.

Throughout the procurement process, all prospective providers were assessed against a wide range of criteria, including:

Food quality and nutritional standards
Value for money
Sustainability and environmental impact
Service delivery and operational excellence
The ability to meet the diverse needs of our pupils and school communities
Innovate demonstrated a strong commitment to delivering fresh, nutritious, and appealing meals, alongside an excellent understanding of the needs of our schools.
We are confident that they will provide a high-quality catering service that supports our pupils’ health, wellbeing, and enjoyment of school meals.

We look forward to working in partnership with Innovate and are excited about the opportunities and benefits this new relationship will bring to our pupils, families, and wider school communities.

For further information on Innovate and their provision to the Academy, please see here .

The ParentPay system will continue to be used for school meal payments. To help ensure a smooth transition, please clear any outstanding negative balances by Friday 23 November. Any credit held on accounts will be transferred automatically to the new catering provider, so no action is required if your account is in credit.

We are pleased to confirm that the price of a meal deal will remain at £2.85. As part of the move to an external catering provider, we have reviewed our procedures for managing meal accounts and would be grateful for your support in ensuring that accounts remain sufficiently funded to cover purchases.

Thank you for your continued support as we introduce this exciting new catering partnership.

Kingsmead Academy