A group of parents of children at Blackawton Primary School have sent a petition to the CEO of Education South West complaining of what they see as a significant decrease in the quality of school meals since a menu change was introduced across all their schools.

The parents have repeatedly raised the issue with Headteacher Liam Fielding and now a petition signed by 127 parents and carers has been sent to ESW.

Parent and School Governor Adam Dalgliesh says: “We used to have food that was cooked in the kitchen fresh ingredients which the kids loved and two cooks in the school who did an amazing job and then the the trust changed the menu across all their schools and that appears to certainly gets less engagement from the children they're not as keen on it.”

The parents say fresh vegetables grown at the school are no longer used there is a significant increase in food waste, an increase in packaging, and for those getting free school meals there is pressure from the children to have packed lunches which removes the financial benefit of getting free school meals as they don’t enjoy what’s now on offer.

Parent Alice Swan said: “I was getting immediate feedback from my own three children that they weren't enjoying the new food.

“I was the one who circulated the petition, and we have 127 parents and carers who have signed it.

“When talking to those parents, I realised that it's a far more urgent issue for a lot of families.

“So a lot of the people that I was talking to were saying how much their kids didn't like it and they were really enthusiastic at the idea that it might be changed and how much that would improve the kids' experience of the food.”

Blackawton’s headteacher Liam Fielding has told the parents that he is waiting to hear from Education South West.

He has sent the proposal to work with Chefs in Schools who say they are specialists with a team of chefs, nutritionists, caterers, campaigners, researchers and procurement specialists.

One aspect is particularly irritating to Alice: “You've got a club at the school, which is a gardening club.

“They grow lots of vegetables in the school garden and before this menu change, those vegetables used to go to the kitchen and they were used to make lunch.

“Now the vegetables are carried down and sold in the village shop.

“You've got this amazing opportunity for kids to really see farm to fork and understand that and we have a lot of families around Blackawton who are farmers.”

Adam says there has been terrible feedback from his children about the quality of the meals and the parents want a proper response to their concerns from Education South West: “The new menu seems to be a lot more bland it seems to be very beige.”

“Parents have asked for the nutritional information in the food and that has been very slow to come through if at all which makes parents think well hang on what is there to hide here.”