A teaching union has joined headteachers in condemning Essex County Council's plans to force schools to provide meals for children.

The Colchester branch of the National Union of Teachers told schools and parents to lobby their local councillors to get the authority to reconsider its proposals.

The council has announced it will not be running meal services after Easter, but it has left schools angry as they claim they have been abandoned by the authorities.

Fran Wagstaff, local secretary of the NUT, said: "The National Union of Teachers is concerned about the welfare of many of the pupils who rely on this one hot meal in the middle of the day."

Published Friday January 16, 2004

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