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Bonhill Primary is teaching a lot more than baking, as Douglas Blane reports.
The pupils at Bonhill Primary don't just eat school meals. They make them.
"West Dunbartonshire is one of the most deprived authorities in the country," says headteacher Maria Seery. "So we're aiming to improve our children's health and well-being and their employability at the same time."
A new school with a modern kitchen gave Mrs Seery and Sharon Lockhart - a recent School Cook of the Year finalist - the idea of using their gleaming facilities to educate the children as well as feed them.
"They love it," says Mrs Lockhart. "About 70 per cent of our children take school meals, which is high, partly because of all the work we do with them."
Besides five weeks of work experience in the kitchen for every Primary 7 pupil, the dinner ladies also welcome classes from across the school for educational sessions, says Mrs Seery. "We've had them in making gingerbread men, lava lamps to illustrate density, Roman shields and film- star biscuits. Our kitchen is an integral part of the learning for the whole school."
There is a breakfast club with a rotation of pupil helpers, a grandparents' lunch and a Friday cookery club. But the most intensive kitchen experience is reserved for Primary 7 pupils, every one of whom, starting last session, gets to...