Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust (BWCET) is proud to announce that one of its own, catering team member Ben Finn, has earned a coveted and well-deserved place at the prestigious LACA School Chef of the Year National Finals this July. Ben, who joined the Trust’s central catering team in 2022, stood out for his incredible creativity, technique, and understanding of what makes a nutritious school meal truly appealing to young people. The finals, taking place on the 8th and 9th of July, will see Ben go head-to-head with the country’s top school chefs, shining a spotlight on his skills and celebrating the high culinary standards championed by the Trust.
This national recognition comes at a time when Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust is not only transforming school food, but leading the way in innovation – from quality and variety to sustainability, efficiency, and community impact.
“We’re not a catering operation which looks to make a profit,” says the Trust’s Director of Operations, Carole Barclay. “Our goal is to run a financially sound service that delivers real value and exceptional, inspiring food to our pupils, without putting pressure on school budgets.”
Ben is amongst several highly talented cooks and food experts at BWCET. Central to the Trust’s catering success is its small but experienced team of professionals – several of whom bring backgrounds in fine dining, luxury hospitality, and even military catering. From Michelin-starred kitchens and the Hilton hotel group to elite education settings, the team combines technical excellence with a deep understanding of how to serve diverse school communities. Their collective knowledge, passion and commitment are helping to redefine what school meals can be.
This professional expertise is paired with an ethos of inclusion and local understanding. Menus are sensitive to cultural preferences, special dietary requirements and pupil and staff feedback, with decisions often made in partnership with school councils, ensuring that children feel heard and involved in shaping their dining experience. It’s a catering model built on pride, participation and progress.
Wider community engagement includes attracting parents to partake in tasting sessions at parents evenings, as one example. The Trust also plans to develop a wide raft of parental engagement initiatives such as cooking demos, health-week campaigns and salad-making classes.
These sessions aren’t just educational – they’re a celebration of food and the positive role it plays in school life. These hands-on sessions are being co-developed alongside a working group of primary school business managers and are designed to boost parental understanding of what’s served – and why.
The team has also enhanced communication with parents through a centralised digital platform, making it easier to share menus, other catering updates, and theme days across the Trust. This transparent, collaborative approach is helping build stronger connections between kitchens, classrooms, and communities.
Jo Stoddart, Cluster Catering Manager at BWCET, said: “We work very closely with the cooks in our schools and within our communities too, to establish what works well in each setting but also to ensure we continually collaborate with each other.
“It’s that sense of teamwork — across schools and roles — that makes our catering offer truly special.”
With sustainability high on the agenda, the Trust is reviewing everything from packaging and menu ingredients to food waste. All packaging used is 100% recyclable and efforts to purchase products made from recycled materials are high on the agenda. This commitment to the environment reflects the Trust’s ambition to serve not only students – but the planet too.
Behind the scenes, Luca Tomassetti, Cluster Catering Manager, works closely with Ricky Humes, one of the Trust’s Finance Officers, to implement an increasingly scientific, data-led approach, focusing on ingredient costs and menus, building in feedback from pupils and staff, with uptake rates, waste levels, and spending patterns monitored in real-time. This enables the central team to spot any inefficiencies and respond rapidly. It’s a system that ensures resources are used wisely – and great food is delivered consistently.
In order to ensure all Trust catering units excel in hygiene, cleanliness and health and safety standards, Shaun Reynolds Clark, Cluster Catering Manager, leads a programme of internal inspection. This ensures recognised industry standards are met and, as a result, the safeguarding of the health of students and staff is of a high standard.
It’s yet another example of how the Trust is raising the bar across the board.
Alongside its work in schools, the Trust operates a bistro café at its headquarters – open to staff, visitors, and the public alike. The space also provides on-site catering for event hire. While still building awareness and footfall, the bistro showcases the Trust’s high culinary standards and serves as a hub for innovation. It’s not just a café – it’s a test kitchen for ideas, and a symbol of the Trust’s growing ambitions.
With Ben Finn preparing to represent the Trust at the national finals and a clear strategy in place for sustainable, high-quality school catering, BWCET is proving that school food can be bold, exciting and impactful – not only for what’s possible in educational catering, but for how food can shape community, wellbeing, and opportunity.
The whole Trust community will be proudly cheering Ben on in July – and whatever the result, his success is already a triumph for everyone involved.