School cooks from across Devon have swapped the kitchen for the classroom to gain new skills and improve food services to thousands of pupils.

Kitchen managers and catering assistants from Devon County Council's catering service, which feeds youngsters in more than 270 schools in the county, have been busy boosting their culinary skills by successfully gaining NVQ Level 2 qualifications in food processing and cookery.

Recently, 30 catering staff from schools across South and West Devon completed the course, which included basic food preparation and cooking, healthier school meals and food safety, with help from Plymouth City College and Ashburton Cookery School.

Cllr Andrew Leadbetter, cabinet member for workforce, performance and communications, met the successful staff at a presentation ceremony at Yelverton Memorial Hall last Wednesday.

He said: 'Many congratulations to all of our catering service staff who have achieved these professional cookery qualifications. They have worked very hard and to a high standard to gain these awards and we are extremely proud of them.

'I am really pleased the council has enabled this valuable training to take place for people working in our local schools. It is important to invest in our school catering staff in this way. In the long run it is children who will benefit from increasingly healthy, varied and attractive school meals.'

The training, which was joint funded by the government and Devon County Council, forms part of the 'Fresh Start' concept resulting from a review of the nutritional quality of the county's school meals back in 2004.

District manager Barbara Sherrell said: 'Completing the NVQ qualifications has confirmed they are all doing well, and has been extremely valuable in increasing the skills and confidence of our kitchen staff.'

The successful catering staff were from schools in Tavistock, Yelverton, Ivybridge, Plymouth, South Hams, Okehampton and Widecombe.

Linda Nankivell, kitchen manager at St Peter's C of E Junior School in Tavistock, has greatly benefited from completing the qualification.

'The course was excellent, especially the skills sessions at Ashburton Cookery School where we were given lots of handy tips and suggestions.

'The NVQ qualification has certainly given me more confidence and it is good to know that I am doing things as I should be.'