14 March 2024 , 15:14
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"Unacceptable" school dinners have been exposed by an angry headteacher at a school in Southampton.
Jason Ashley who is the head at Redbridge Community School, Southampton was critical of catering firm Chartwells, which provided meals for the school. Pictures of the meals given to staff were highlighted by the head.
His images included sad portions of chips and beans, as well as a tuna baked potato. But Mr Ashley said the school dinners were "unacceptable" and he would be "exceptionally unhappy" if his own children had been served them.
The Mirror reported how he sent a groveling email to kids' parents over what he described as the sad state of the food.
Jason Ashley, head of Redbridge Community School in Southampton was angry at the standard of the school meals (Redbridge Community School)The former inspector for Ofsted, Mr Ashley criticised the portion sizes, which he insisted had become "smaller in recent times" as costs had risen. He also highlighted the serving of pie, prepared for British 'pie week', and said it was "extremely poor quality when compared to our partner schools."
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In an email to students' parents dated March 12, he 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.
A picture of one of the meals which pupils were served (Redbridge Community School)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."
He felt he could no longer justify the "unacceptable" nature of the food. The Daily Mail reported he asked mums and dads 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.
The baked potato which Mr Ashely was served (Redbridge Community School)"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."
Chartwells said: "We apologise that in this instance our usual level of service has fallen below the high standards we demand" (Redbridge Community School)A spokesperson for contract caterer Chartwells which provides food for pupils, 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.”