MASSIVE problems with the delivery of free school meals meant hundreds of pupils tucked into takeaway pizza or supermarket sandwiches on the first day of term.

Schools across Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset, who had ordered hot or packed lunches from food contractor Chartwells, were left in the lurch when the meals failed to arrive.

Unable to get hold of anyone from Chartwells, head teachers were forced to step in and provide lunches for reception, year one and year two children. Some chose to order in pizzas while others made a last-minute dash to a supermarket to buy provisions.

Toni Coombs, Dorset County Council's cabinet member for education, has now demanded Chartwells refunds all schools that bought food out of their own budgets.

It was the worst possible start for the Government's new free school meal policy, which states that all reception, year one and year two children are entitled to a free, nutritious lunch.

While some schools made their own arrangements for the provision of meals, most chose to sign up to a central contract with Dorset, Poole and Bournemouth councils' chosen provider Chartwells.

 

Chartwells, the leading provider of primary school meals in the UK, won a four year contract to deliver around 11,000 meals a day to schools across the conurbation.

But yesterday, several schools received no lunches at all, others received part of their order or were left waiting with no explanation from Chartwells.

Schools that were affected include Parley First School, Ferndown First School, St Luke's School, Bearwood Primary School, Branksome Heath Junior School, Sylvan Infant School, Heatherlands Primary School, Pokesdown Community Primary School and Winton Primary School.

At St Luke's School in Bournemouth, head teacher Mark Saxby sent a letter home with students which read: "Unfortunately our provider failed to deliver any of the ordered meals. Instead we have used two local pizza companies to provide the children's meals today.

"I apologise for the inconvenience to your child. As I would expect from a St Luke's pupil, they showed great resilience and put up with this hardship."

In the west of Dorset, dozens of schools had meals arrive late or not at all. Read about that here.

There seems to be no repeat of the problems today, although some head teachers have asked parents to send their children in with a packed lunch from home as a precaution.

Cllr Toni Coombs, Cabinet member for education at Dorset County Council, said: "The introduction of free school meals for all five, six and seven-year-olds across Dorset has not been without its challenges. By next week, the number of schools meals being provided by our contractor, Chartwells, will be around 12,000 – compared to 4,000 last year.

"Although we would have expected some teething issues, we did not expect this level of disruption and have asked Chartwells to refund every school that has had to buy food out of its own budget.

"Chartwells have assured us they are working to resolve issues at individual schools and we will make sure they fix the problem as soon as possible. I’d like to thank schools, pupils and parents for their patience and understanding while the matter is resolved.”

Chartwells have not yet publicly commented on the problems.

We'll be working on this story throughout the day, so check tomorrow's paper for lots more.