South Gloucestershire children missing out on hot school dinners

Parents and teachers are concerned pupils are not consuming the fuel and quality nutrition they need because there are no cooks to make hot meals.

Hundreds of children in South Gloucestershire are missing out on hot lunches as the council's catering arm, Integra, struggles to recruit staff.

One parent said she had noticed her children had less energy since school meals became more restricted.

Integra said it had recently hired five new staff members.

Currently 11 schools are on a reduced menu, an increase from November when seven schools were going without hot lunches.

Head teacher Caroline Carter, from Gillingstool Primary, near Thornbury, said a school meal might be the only hot meal some children will eat.

"That's our concern, that the children aren't getting the nutritional value they need," she said.

"The children are getting quite fed up with it now."

The only options the school has been able to offer on its menu for the last two weeks were a selection of sandwiches and baked potatoes with beans.

Pupil Adam told BBC Points West: "It's annoying because we have the same thing every day.

"We don't get that many vegetables. Only some days we get cucumber."

A third of the children at Gillingstool are eligible for free school meals.

Some parents are fed up too, because they still have to pay the same amount for the food provided.

"A sandwich, a yoghurt and a piece of fruit is not a substantial meal," parent Marcia Commons said.

"To expect a child to go through a six-hour school day on that and stay focused... I just don't think that's enough."

Parent Hannah Amin said her children "are definitely more hungry when they come home".

Integra has 17 vacancies and said it had 13 members of staff off work with sickness - representing a quarter of its staff.

In November it had 23 vacancies.

South Gloucestershire's Cabinet Member for Corporate Resources, Ben Burton, said: "We're not that dissimilar to other leisure facilities and restaurants and those types of businesses, who are having real difficulties trying to recruit staff.

"We're doing absolutely everything possible to make sure every child in the district still has a decent school meal."

Integra said the five recently hired staff members had yet to be allocated to their new schools.

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