Campus Safety permeates all aspects of school life here at SSIS. Providing a caring and nurturing environment as laid out in our guiding statements necessitates that the health and safety of our students be placed as a top priority.
Recognizing the importance of Campus Safety and the fact that it takes a village to raise a child, the school has set into action a Campus Safety Committee which comprises of all the principals and operations managers in the school. Led by the principals, the four groups will undertake spot-checks and inspections of different areas.
Mr. TAN Thong Howe
Head of School
“The objective of this Campus Safety Committee is to provide a safe & secure campus for our students and staff through a structured approach of self-checks and continuous improvements.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Where does SSIS get our food source and supply of food products?
Besides Mahota Farm which is a major supplier of our fresh produce, we also use other licensed suppliers to order to cater to our ever-growing student and staff population on both our campuses. Moreover, we do not use intermediaries to facilitate the purchasing process and in so eliminating the middlemen. We have an in-house purchasing department that fully adheres to our stringent product requirements with no conflict of interest.
Having said so, we are in the process of reviewing all our product choices, brands and suppliers such as for milk that our pre-schoolers drink on a regular basis in school.
What kinds of checks and monitoring can we expect to take place in the kitchen?
Besides the daily checks by the Senior Operations Manager, the Campus Principal will conduct weekly checks of the kitchen at unannounced times. Moreover, the Campus Safety Committee members are expected to carry out their monthly scrutiny and report to the committee’s monthly meeting.
Externally, we are subjected to annual inspections and checks by the Market Supervision and Management Office from the Minhang and Xuhui districts.
Why is it necessary to freeze food samples?
The chefs retain food samples according to requirements from the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau and National Food Hygiene Standards. No less than 100G per dish is retained for 48 hours in accordance with the daily menu. Daily accounts have to be recorded, samples labelled and saved in a designated refrigerator in case of a widespread food poisoning incident where the food samples will then be able to serve its purpose as evidence for food sample testing.
What other safety measure does the kitchen have in place to ensure food safety?
After cooking, the school kitchen staff will be the first to eat the food. This must take place at least 1.5 hours prior to our students taking their meal. This is one of the safeguards against food poisoning and the food will be disposed should there be known cases amongst the staff.
What happens at food service for our students?
Pre-school and Primary students collect their lunch trays and are served a portion of the day’s menu – an optimal mix of grains, vegetables, protein and fruit. Unless students have known allergies or dietary preferences, they will all be advised to try the full array of choices on their plate.
Teachers on duty ensure that students finish their meal before rushing off to play or our staff eat with them to encourage slow eaters or picky ones to try new ingredients.
Especially for our younger students, reminders are regularly shared during assembliesand also Pastoral Care (PC) classes to educate student on a healthy and balanced diet.
For our Senior School students, they get to enjoy a buffet spread of hot dishes, appetizers and fresh salad offerings. Having a relaxing environment in the Merlion Café allows for them to enjoy their lunch and go for seconds or thirds – a necessary element in the development of teenage bodies and minds.
Is the menu always the same?
Even though we know our students love school lunches, it does not mean that we rest on our laurels and keep to the same menu. We continuously review our menus and ensure that the nutrition, taste and quality of our meals are enhanced. Should there be a need to change the menu items, we strive to communicate the revisions in a timely fashion to our respective parents.
On Wednesday, 24 October, representatives of the MH Parent Support Group (PSG)Executive Committee had the opportunity to visit and inspect the kitchen facilities and inventory as well as understand the workflow in our kitchen.
Sunny CHO
President of the MH PSG
“I feel totally confident with the school’s kitchen and their F&B team after the tour. It seems obvious that the school practices are as carefully laid out as what I do at home. A clear conscience is more valuable than money. I appreciate the school’s hard work and integrity and I hope that SSIS can persevere and continue striving for excellence.”
Prudence TOH
Member of MH PSG EXCO
”I’m pretty pleased with the kitchen tour after seeing the school kitchen being so clean and organized. I’m amazed to learn that proper database on information such as what has been purchased or handled by who, etc. are entered in an online computer system for recording purpose; there’s also a CCTV system which holds up to 90 days of video footage; samples of cooked food are stored for lab test in case of food poisoning is a thumbs up too & especially the food sampling done by the chefs before they are served as lunch. I felt we are elevated to royalty! Hope the hygiene standards will continue to maintain up to our expectations. Thank you so much, SSIS!”
We welcome other parents to partake in our school lunches and we are happy to host parents who would like to take a tour of the school kitchen. Additionally, we are highly appreciative of any feedback from you in order to enhance the safe and healthy environment we have at SSIS!
At SSIS, we strive to create a safe environment where parents will be 100% assured to entrust their child into our care.
