The Maplesden Noakes School
The Maplesden Noakes School is is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, based in Maidstone, Kent and has circa 1500 students. The goal and just cause at Maplesden is To Provide the Best Curriculum and Experience for all, and the Best Start to an Exciting Future.
The services we successfully provided to them under our Procurement Partnership were:
1 - Catering and cleaning contract management
The Maplesden Noakes School engaged RIVA to manage their outsourced catering and cleaning services. They were keen to engage our expertise so as to minimise the pressure and time taken managing external services via internal resource, to bring structure to the services, to achieve greater transparency and overall improvements to the service delivery. In particular we focussed on:
Catering – the menu was not well received by the specific students of the school
Under RIVA’s direction, the incumbent provider undertook in further student, staff and parental engagement to understand needs and wants. Along side this, an analysis of current trends and spends was conducted. This blended piece of work proved important in strategically identifying bespoke improvements that suited the school and it’s specific cohort of students.
Cleaning – transparency of hours and agreed standards, fit for purpose structures
RIVA introduced our robust hours and standards management system that achieved the transparency the school required. Granular detail with regards to the staffing structures and cleaning areas was examined and the contractor responded with a staged approach to bringing efficiencies and improvements.
2 - Cleaning tender
Having delivered our contract management services for the school’s cleaning contract prior to the time it was due for tender, RIVA had a great understanding of the school, it’s requirements and it’s current cleaning service. This proved a great start to the tender process that built on our understanding of the school’s strategy and specific objectives for the tender project.
In conjunction with the Facilities and Operations Manager we were able to design an incredibly bespoke specification that detailed exactly what the school were looking for from their cleaning service provider. Internal resource that would be overseeing the new contract were involved meaning the ongoing contract management was made incredibly simple as there was continuity of understanding throughout the process.
3 - Catering services best value review
The school’s catering contract is due for renewal next Summer 2026. Prior to commencing a competitive tender, the school engaged RIVA to forensically examine the school’s strategy, objectives for the service and current provision. The report will focus on an options appraisal clearly laying out for the school the pro’s and con’s of taking the service to tender, bringing it in house or engaging with a hybrid model. This piece of work is ongoing, so watch this space for the outcome!
The outcome
Via the many services RIVA have provided for the school, we have developed a true procurement partnership. The school trusts RIVA to look after all of it’s procurement requirements and support services and has been very pleased with the improvements we brought to the current catering and cleaning contracts, in particular the outcome of the cleaning tender where the new contract ‘delivers exactly what we wanted here at Maplesden Noakes’
