If you live near Wittersham Church of England Primary School in Kent you could have a two course lunch plus a drink for £3. Produce is sourced locally and cooked on the premises but be warned, even although the plates are plastic and the seats far more suited to small bums, there's a two week waiting list so reservations are essential.
The Back to School Dinners scheme was the brainchild of two dinner ladies and as well as keeping their local community well fed, it has kept them in employment. The kitchen faced closure and their jobs were on the line. Judith Thornton, head teacher of the 127-pupil school explains: "We are only a small school and until recently the kitchen served another school as well as ours. When that changed we found ourselves with a problem. We needed to break even, so we put a flyer in the village magazine asking if people were interested in coming here for a school dinner and the response was immediate. For many it's a way to turn back the clock 60 years."
Some of the regulars have children or grandchildren at the school but many are just local older people who enjoy a good meal and the company of children. The reporter shared a table with chatty five-year-old Sara who said, "It's really good talking to the old people. They tell me about what they used to do and I tell them about what I did on holiday."
What a great idea isn't it. Children learn eating can be a social event and locals are guaranteed a slap-up meal. It's a win win situation and I congratulate the school for their entrepreneurship.
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Associated Newspapers Limited, the publisher of the Mail on Sunday and the Daily Mail, apologised today to Tom Watson MP in a Statement in Open Court read before Mr Justice Eady.
Mr Watson complained of an article by Iain Dale, headed “Smears, glowering henchmen-like the Nixon White House” published in the Mail on Sunday on 12 April 2009 in which it was stated not only that Mr Watson was copied into emails sent by Downing Street press adviser Damian McBride to Derek Draper, but that he “encouraged” them. The emails were reported to have made serious and false allegations about the private lives of a number of Conservative Party MPs in the course of discussing proposals for a new website to be known as “Red Rag”.
As the Court heard today, Associated Newspapers Limited now accepts that these allegations are entirely untrue. In fact, Mr Watson was not copied into any of the emails exchanged between Mr McBride and Mr Draper. As Mr Watson has already publicly made clear, he had no involvement in or knowledge of the “Red Rag” website and he did not condone the content of the emails and, indeed, regarded them as completely inappropriate.
Associated Newspapers Limited has unreservedly withdrawn the allegations, apologised to Mr Watson for the distress the article caused him and his family and has joined in the reading of the Statement in Open Court today. In addition, Associated Newspapers Limited has agreed to pay Mr Watson substantial damages, together with his legal costs.
SR,
Good idea but lets unknown "kiddy fiddlers" too close for comfort of the parents! And being one myself I'd not be happy as Teachers need a Police CRB search to be in the classroom with kids, why should Joe punlic be allowed.
You may think I'm being harsh, but the minute some kid gets touched up or impropriety occuring - the lawsuits will come out and what was initially a good idea to save jobs will be bitten hard by political correctness and the security of oor bairns.
Crazy D
Wonderful. Getting the generations together over a meal. Love it.
I too think this is marvellous scunnert and should be used in many schools if possible. Sadly round about here, the small school kitchens were closed years ago and meals are ferried in from afar.
Such a pity nobody thought about it before the decision was taken but I expect there would have been protests from certain areas such as labour councils.
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