Parents are fighting plans to close a village primary school’s kitchen, arguing that its close links to an after-school gardening project are “worth cherishing”.
Annabel MacDougall, chair of Rhynie School’s Parent Teacher Council, said families were shocked to hear of Aberdeenshire Council’s decision to close the kitchen and instead deliver meals to pupils by taxi.
Tomotoes within the Garden Gang’s polycrub.
From April the current kitchen will become a “servery”, with pupils handed meals cooked four miles away at Kennethmont Primary.
The decision was made in February, when Aberdeenshire Council agreed to turn schools serving fewer than 35 meals a day into serveries to save around £160,000 over two years.
Parents have filed a complaint about the move and launched a petition which has received more than 1000 signatures, to be presented to the council’s education committee.
Lumsden Primary School is also among the school kitchens facing closure.
Annabel said Aberdeenshire Council told parents that the decision at Rhynie, which has 53 pupils, would reduce carbon emissions and save money.
Parents at Rhynie School are fighting the change to the kitchen…Picture: Google
Parents have also been told that no staff will lose their jobs since roles would be moved to the kitchen at Kennethmont.
Annabel, who attended Rhynie School herself and now has two children enrolled, said the kitchen had been the victim of a “big, blanket policy” which failed to take local knowledge into account.
She said parents felt disappointed by the “lack of communication” from the council, and like the school’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint had been disregarded.
The plans left Annabel feeling “angry”, she added, and like the reasons for decisions were thought up after the decision was already made.
She also argued that Aberdeenshire Council’s decision ignored the fact that Rhynie Nursery, located next door, is also served by the school kitchen.
The Garden Gang produce is often used for school dinners.
With nursery pupils included, she added, the kitchen serves a total of 73 children.
Annabel is also in charge of the Garden Gang, a school garden where pupils learn how to grow their own produce which is often cooked in the school kitchen.
She said it was “gutting” to consider how the kitchen closure might impact the project.
The project recently received £40,000 of investment in a polytunnel and raised beds, and has a cutting-edge composter that uses food waste from the kitchen to support pupils’ growing efforts.
Annabel said both primary and nursery pupils loved seeing the school cook regularly transform produce from the garden into school dinners.
Potatoes from the Rhynie School garden.
She argued that their “pride and excitement” was “something worth cherishing”.
The PTC chair also said the garden’s links to the school kitchen taught children an important lesson, especially in a rural area, about how their food is produced.
Annabel also argued that the council’s claim that closing the kitchen would benefit the climate was “bizarre”, as it would require an extra 16 miles of taxi journeys each day of the week.
Aberdeenshire Council said that produce from the school garden could still be cooked at Kennethmont.
“It’ll just defeat what we’re trying to say about food miles,” Annabel added.
“We’re quite a rural, farming community and it’s all about being local.
“On paper, that sounds practical, but I don’t think it really is.”
Annabel thanked the local community for getting involved in the parent’s campaign, and for signing the petition.
“Rhynie is a pretty wonderful community and the amount of signatures we’ve got says a lot,” Annabel said.
“Most people have some sort of connection to Rhynie or the school, it’s fairly close to them all.
“One of the comments from the council is that the children won’t notice a difference, but I think that’s just an insult, really, to their intelligence.”
Serveries have been in use across Aberdeenshire for more than 40 years, a council spokesperson said, and have the same quality and safety standards as production kitchens.
Out of the region’s 140 primary schools, 63 already operate as serveries.
“The catering service is proud of the quality of meals provided across the whole kitchen estate,” the spokesperson added.
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