Dear Parents and Carers,

Hot Meals Update

It has been a week or so, since I last updated you all on how the remedial works are progressing in the damaged parts of our school building. The flood-damaged areas have been completely stripped of flooring and other water-affected items and the process of drying out the floor and sublayers is well underway. We anticipate that the drying process will take us up until Christmas, when hopefully the process of rebuilding the class spaces and pods will start promptly in the new year. I am sure many of you will have noticed the giant marquee which has been put up over the last few days and as you will know, this is an important part of the recovery plan to allow us to start reintroducing some hot food options at lunchtime. Once we are using the marquee space we will be able to consider whether we can use it for activities other than lunchtime.

I am very pleased to report that from Monday 2^nd December, we will be able to introduce jacket potatoes as a hot meal option alongside our existing cold options. The logistics of transporting food prepared in our kitchen safely to the marquee and keeping it warm has been quite a challenge - not to mention how we supply sufficient electricity and internet connectivity to power the catering till system. This is, I am pleased to report, all in hand and we hope that by starting with jacket potatoes, the catering team will be able to build upon this and start to offer a wider selection of hot food over time - not to forget Christmas lunch too! For the week beginning 2^nd December, the menu options will be either a cold lunch option; ham, tuna or cheese sandwich or a jacket potato with either cheese, cheese and beans, beans or tuna as a topping. A plain jacket potato will also be available. There will be a selection of desserts available daily too. This is a positive first step towards restoring a little bit of lunchtime normality for children in Years 1- 6 and the opportunity to eat their meal outside of their classroom. Pupils in Reception will continue to have their meal served in their learning spaces and will have the jacket potato option too, from next week. Nursery will continue to have a cold option available and eat in their classroom as they always do.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our colleagues at the Local Authority and also Solihull Catering for their support in enabling us to reach this stage in a relatively short amount of time. I hope that you too, feel this is a positive step forward and I will keep you updated with developments regarding the repairs and additions to the hot lunch menu as soon as more information is available.

Thank you again for the overwhelming support and kindness during this challenging time at Olton.

Kind regards,

Mr Chamberlain, Mrs Gray and the team at Olton

Olton Primary School