Headteacher forced to send grovelling email to parents over school dinners

13 March 2024 , 14:25

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Jason Ashley was furious at what was being served up to pupils (Image: Redbridge Community School/Solen)

A headteacher has been forced to send grovelling email to parents over the sad state of 'unacceptable' school dinners.

Jason Ashley, headteacher at Redbridge Community School, Southampton, lambasted catering firm Chartwells who are responsible for the school's catering contract. He shared images of the food which were served to staff and included chips and beans plus a baked potato filled with tuna. He also said if it had been dished-up to his own kids, he would be "exceptionally unhappy"

Mr Ashley, a former inspector for Ofsted, claimed portion sizes had become "smaller in recent times" while costs had risen. He added: "For example, recently it was British 'pie week' and the pie served was of extremely poor quality when compared to our partner schools."

Head teacher Jason Ashley was not happy with the quality of the school's meals (Redbridge Community)

His letter to children's parents and dated March 12, added: "As the headteacher, you will often hear me say 'if it's good enough for my own children, it has to be good enough for yours. Frankly, the food that is served in the canteen is completely unacceptable, so much so, that if my own children's school served this I would be exceptionally unhappy.

The company's school meals did not go down well with the head teacher (Redbridge Community)

He added: "Unfortunately, Redbridge Community School has no control over the private company Chartwells. This company provides the catering contract for the school. Myself and Mrs Wall-Bradfield have been in numerous meetings (the most recent this morning) and I am simply fed up with the lack of progress being made. We have concluded with our photo evidence that Chartwells do seem to be unable to 'bake a potato' correctly."

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In the communication he said he could no longer justify the "unacceptable" nature of the food. The Daily Mail reports he asked parents for their comments saying: "Now, I could be completely wrong, misguided, fussy, difficult or on a different planet; so I will leave you to decide with a selection of photos taken (and this is served to staff) for you to make up your own mind.

"Therefore, I hope that you are as angry and as disappointed as me. For those of you that pay from your hard-earned wages - I can only apologise and I am sorry. However, nothing I seem to do or say makes any difference and I feel you have the right to know."

One of the meals which was served up at Redbridge Community School (Redbridge Community School/Solen)

He apologised for the school meal failings and questioned how difficult it was to bake a potato and asked for answers to be sent to his email address. The catering firm's website says: "Chartwells is proud to be the leading provider of catering and support services to schools, academies, colleges and universities in the UK."

A spokesperson for Chartwells said: “We recognise the importance of school meals, and our teams work hard to provide good quality food every day. We apologise that in this instance our usual level of service has fallen below the high standards we demand. We are committed to working in collaboration with the school and are implementing an immediate action plan to rectify these issues.”

One of the meals offered to the headteacher (Redbridge Community)

The Mirror recently reported how mothers have begun a five-day hunger strike outside Parliament as they demand all kids get free school meals. The group of six women want to draw attention to parents across the country who are skipping meals to feed their children. They have published a Mothers Manifesto calling for nutritious free meals to be provided in all state schools.

Graeme Murray