Courtenay Elementary Community School Society

Some Sunday reading: Part 3 of our interview with a food policy advocate was recently published. Click the link below to read all three instalments.

Courtenal El Lunch Program Noticed by Food Policy Advocate and Researcher - Courtenay Elementary Community School Society During Spring Break, the Courtenay Elementary Community School Society was contacted by an Ottawa-based food policy researcher interested in the school's lunch program. Over the course of some chats and Zoom calls, she has put together two articles that nicely summarize the origins of Courtenay El's...

Let's take a moment to say farewell to the kitchen's trusty mobile kitchen island.🫡
It was the first piece of kitchen equipment the community school society wrote a grant for, and little did we know that it would set in motion a chain of events that would culminate in a lunch program.

The idea for the mobile island came from Ms. Shelly, the EA in charge of breakfast and lunch at the time. The kitchen lacked prep space and Ms. Shelly also wanted something mobile that could act as a barrier between the cooking area and the kids. CECSS wrote a grant and SD71 maintenance staff built it! Over the years, the carpenter and other maintenance staff have frequently popped in to admire their work!

As more stainless steel was added to the kitchen, the island fell out of use. Luckily, we heard about a kitchen project at Highland Secondary and decided to donate the island. The island is in excellent condition so we are sure that it will be put it good use!

That's it for the year! We set a new record, serving 22,818 lunches this year! 🥰 This is a nearly 15% increase in total lunches over last year! Had there not been any field trips in May and June, we would have broken 23,000 lunches served!

As today is the last day of school, the kitchen was given a thorough cleaning. Ovens cleaned, fridge and freezer emptied and shut off, all prep surfaces cleaned and disinfected, and all plates, cups, bowls, forks, and spoons counted!

We only had festive table covers to use to keep surfaces clean over the summer, but it gives the kitchen a nice vibe.

Time for some rest! See you in September!

That’s a wrap! We’ve cleaned out the kitchen. Help yourself before the kids do!

Today’s final lunch of the school year: Butter chicken curry! Shown is an adult portion as there was a gas leak scare at the school just as we were about to start lunch, and we didn’t have time to take a photo. Fortunately, the delay was short as the strong smell of gas was from a few blocks away. Ms. Masako had to deal with a crazy rush as the entire school decided to line up at the kitchen!

The final breakfast of the school year is ready! Pancakes with yogurt, chocolate milk, and fruit.

Today’s lunch: Penne Alfredo with fries and thick slices of watermelon because it’s crazy hot today! The temperatures in the classrooms upstairs are over 27C! Courtenay El needs air conditioning!

In the snack bowl today: kind of a granola cookie. We had done oats, bananas, whole wheat flour, and chocolate chips in the pantry, so Ms. Masako whipped this up to see what happens.