DSP Jahrbuch 2017/ DSP Yearbook 2017

DSP TUCK SHOP UND KÜCHE
As the year 2017 comes to a close, I sit down to write a few words
about the tuck shop and the kitchen. Again. As every year over
the past 10 years that I have been working there. Is there anything
new to write? I am not sure… The work has remained the same:
providing healthy lunches for our children, running the tuck shop
and catering. So why write? And write what? Does the yearbook
really need another article on this topic?
Yes, it does. It is important.
Firstly: In the past, this article was always written in German only,
so half of our readers have not been able to understand it.
Secondly: What would the yearbook be without an article about
the most important department in the whole school? :-) What
would the DSP be without kitchen and tuck shop?
Looking back at past yearbooks and remembering all the many
activities and functions which took place during this year 2017, I
realise that each and every school activity involved the help of the
kitchen. Every event required a little – or a lot – of catering:
During sports days teachers had a bread roll and a drink to help
them survive Saturday duty. Swimming gala guests were welcomed
with a little snack. Soccer teams and coaches had food on some
trips.
Music department had concerts in which the tuck shop was open.
During the music week, all the musicians were fed with lunch and
snacks so that they would be able to practice and perform their
beautiful music.
Robotics department requested a VIP catering for their prizegiving
ceremony.
The kitchen provided catering for the teachers on various
occasions such as farewells, end-of-the-year-celebration, and
during conferences.
The school’s governing bodies received snacks to help them
through different late night meetings. The school’s principal Mr. N.
Klevenz had various guests who needed to be provided with food
during the course of the year.
Integration events, Matric and Abi-farewell, school concerts…
the list can go on and on. If it said “event”, it had “kitchen” written
on its label. :-)
Catering for events and functions was planned, prepared,
delivered. On time, with a smile. The new improved and larger
kitchen facilities which we could use for the first time this year were
a great help.
However, besides the catering, the most important part of the
work of the kitchen was and is to deliver a service to our children: to
provide daily healthy lunches for children from the crèche upwards
to Matric. This challenging task involves the planning of the
menu, ordering and purchasing ingredients, cooking lunches and
afternoon snacks under hygienic and healthy conditions, dishing
out the food to approximately 280 children, wiping off a tear here
and there, cleaning everything afterwards in preparation for the
next day, as well as balancing the books..
Once a week, we had Julian Wolf with us in the kitchen to assist
us and to learn some practical skills. It was great having him there
and seeing his original thoughts and ideas. Like wearing swimming
goggles when peeling onions. :-)
The tuck shop is run concurrently, also as a service delivery to our
children, giving them the opportunity of purchasing healthy snacks
and drinks, as well as… yes, unhealthy sweets and cold drinks. The
discussion around the issue of a healthier tuck shop is ongoing. May
it be said just briefly that the tuck shop is an important platform at
which – I hope and trust – children learn various important skills:
queuing a line without pushing in, waiting, being polite, budgeting
and handling money, cleanliness (“DON’T throw the papers on the
floor” is maybe the sentence they hear most from me), and last but
not least practicing to speak German.
Yes, kitchen and tuck shop play a very important role to play in
the school. Work in the kitchen is hard work, like the work of being
a mother: always taken for granted and seldom really appreciated.
Once again, we can say that we were only able do it through the
ongoing help of our support staff which is working tirelessly day in
and day out, as well as the assistance of our tuck shop volunteers:
parents who work without remuneration on a fortnightly rotational
basis, just out of their willingness to assist in the school. These
parents invest in all our children by giving their time and energy
towards ensuring a smooth running of the tuck shop. In this, the
14 DSP Jahrbuch 2017 – Ausschüsse & Initiativen