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Pupils going without hot school meals near Bristol amid staff shortage

PA Media A lunch tray in the school canteenPA Media
Seven schools in South Gloucestershire are on 'cold service'

Pupils at seven schools are going without hot lunches due to a catering staff recruitment crisis.

The schools near Bristol are only able to provide cold food, such as sandwiches, because of 23 vacancies.

South Gloucestershire Council said pupils were still getting the nutrition they needed and hot meals would resume as soon as possible.

They said recruitment in catering was "challenging across the country".

Schools affected

  • Little Stoke Primary School
  • New Siblands School in Thornbury
  • Pathways Learning Centre
  • St Augustine's Primary School in Downend
  • St Andrew's Primary School in Cromhall
  • Tortworth VC Primary School
  • Wick CE VC Primary School

Raising the issue at a South Gloucestershire Council cabinet meeting, councillor Jayne Stansfield (Lib Dem) said she would like to know what was being done to get children "the hot meals they expect".

Councillor Ben Burton (Con) said Integra, the local authority's trading arm which provides services to schools, was finding it difficult to recruit people.

He said the schools running a cold service still offered balanced and nutritional food "in accordance with what Integra is looking to provide".

Mr Burton assured Ms Stansfield that he hoped to get all schools affected "back onto hot school meals as soon as possible".

Cllr Ben Burton at South Gloucestershire Council cabinet meeting
Cllr Ben Burton said he hoped to get all schools affected by the staffing crisis "back onto hot meals as soon as possible"

Most pupils being provided a cold service are given sandwiches, but some also get the option of jacket potatoes or baguettes, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Mr Burton said it was a "testament to the team" that management had stepped in where possible to "try to continue to deliver the services to schools".

He said hot lunches would be resumed at Crossways school in Thornbury after two or three vacancies had been filled.

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