Family feel to school dinners

Pupils served lunch to their grandparents in an effort to increase the take-up of meals at a Newark school.

Children at Hawtonville Junior School were also able to have lunch with their parents on Tuesday and Thursday last week.

There were 11 parents on each day.

Mrs Janice Wright, of Boundary Road, Newark, was served by her grandchildren, Kyle Wright (10) and Jasmin Wright (9) on Friday.

Kyle and Jasmin also served a lunch of fish and chips, with an apple crumble dessert, to their great-grandmother, Mrs Doris Dudley (82).

Mrs Wright, who works as a lunchtime supervisor at the school, said it was a nice change to be served by her grandchildren.

The idea of bringing in parents and grandparents to have lunch came from the school’s cook supervisor, Mrs Karen Barnsdale.

She said they wanted to do something to mark getting stylish new plastic plates and dishes to replace the flight trays they used to use.

They also wanted to increase the number of children who had school dinners, which is only a third of the school.

Mrs Barnsdale said they were planning a regular lunch for senior citizens in the school’s dining hall.

Pupils will also be designing their own lunch menu.

A community fun day was held at the school on Saturday.

Among those represented were the Dance-icality dance group, the Ice Diamonds cheerleading group, Newark Martial Arts Centre and Hawtonville Children’s Centre.

Schools in the Hawtonville area who are part of the Newark High School family of schools, which includes Bowbridge Primary School and Oliver Quibell Infants’ School, were also at the fun day.

Around 150 people attended.