Many thanks to Alvin from Magic Organics who donated lots of lovely fresh Organic vegetable to give to students for Green week. He also chatted with The IB Food Science students about the importance of Biodiversity and how eating organic is better for us and the Environment.

Nicole a star Food studentsaid “We started Green Week with a visit from Alvin Kwong, an ex-Island School Fleming student. His family owns Magic Organics Co, an organic vegetable farm in Qingyuan, Guangdong. We were lucky enough to receive an assortment of the beautiful vegetables which they grow, including tomatoes, carrots and green peas. Alvin shared with us the process of shipping the vegetables into Hong Kong, and how picking up the orders at 3am has allowed them to create a more efficient supply chain. He told us how his mother has worked on the farm for 20 years, and how it was this experience that taught them which crops grow best on which areas of their property. The Food Science students were tasked with packing and handing out the organic vegetables to students, and the bags were gone within minutes! We are so grateful to have been able to learn about this important aspect of food agriculture, and share it with the rest of the school.@

Many thanks to all the Pirata team who helped to put on an amazing Guest Service training (COVID-safe) session for all the Y13 BTEC students to help them complete their Customer Service units. This took place at The Loft which is Pirata groups head office, training centre and cafe and the students were privileged to get talks from the CEO, the Head of training, the head of people relations and a chef. This gave students a valuable insight into the importance of customer guest service and highlighted how challenging it has been in the industry during the last year.

They then tad a series of different guest service activities that they had to complete in a round bin. These included;

• Kitchen tasks – weighing and rolling dough for pizza, shaping pizza, helping collate delivery orders and washing the pots
• Front of house – Taking orders in the cafe, serving the food and meeting and greeting guest as they enter the loft
• Training exercises – laying tables and learning how to takes orders and deal with complaints role play.

Once all these experiences were completed students finally got to sit down and sample their hard work, with a lunch of pizza and pasta that they cooked with the chefs.

This truly was one of the best experiences that the students could have asked for and was great that we still managed to go ahead with everything that is going on with COVID . Rachel Handley (13R) who studies Hospitality and Business said ” I incredibly enjoyed the trip to The Loft yesterday, the staff were all so friendly and helpful, speaking on behalf of everyone else I’m sure we can all say that this experience has been extremely helpful, memorable, and a true learning experience,” which i think sums it up nicely.