City primary to savour £1.3m boost for dinners
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MORE than £1 million will be invested in Dalneigh Primary School for a new kitchen and dining hall.
Councillors agreed to allocate £1.3 million of Scottish Government funding to improve the run-down facilities and accommodate the uptake of children having school lunches through the free school meal scheme.
A new block will be built on the grounds, with a kitchen and dining area and improvements will be made to the multi-use hall, where the children currently eat.
The school’s current kitchen facilities are limited and can only be used for simple lunches such as soups, sandwiches and snacks while other meals are prepared at Muirtown Primary School but this has not been sustainable as 84 per cent of P1-3 pupils at the school now take the free meal offered by the Scottish Government.
Highland councillors agreed the work, to be paid for with a share of £5 million given to the council by the Scottish Government to help implement the free school meals.
Inverness Central councillor and former Dalneigh Primary pupil Richard Laird said: "I’m pleased to see the problems with catering are now being addressed.
"It is the largest school without full kitchen facilities. At the moment meals have to be transported across Inverness to feed these children."
It is the most expensive project of all schools in the region to benefit from the fund but a council spokeswoman explained this is due to the extent of work required.
She said: "The other projects were about expanding facilities to meet the extra demand arising from the provision of free school meals for P1-P3 pupils.
"Dalneigh is more expensive as it involves establishing a production kitchen at the school.
"It is currently the largest primary school without its own kitchen and has a relatively high uptake of pupils taking meals, including free meals.
"The extra running costs will be offset to some extent by not having to transport meals from another school and cooking the food on site means that it will be fresher when served."
