WOOD Farm Primary School pupils cooked up a meal to thank those who built their new £10.5m school.

Youngsters from the Year Three and Four classes at the Titup Hall Drive school served the three-course menu to 40 guests.

Those invited to enjoy the meal included the architects and builders who helped design and construct the new site over the last three years, along with school governors, teachers and Oxfordshire County Council planners.

The school had been surrounded by construction workers for large parts of the past three years, before the work was finally completed in December.

In preparation for the evening meal on Thursday, February 13, pupils visited restaurants in central Oxford – including Jamie’s Italian and the Randolph Hotel – to see how professionals cook and serve food.

In the end, they served up a Caesar Salad for starters followed by a choice of chicken and tarragon or leek and potato pie.

Pupils also dished out ice cream for dessert.

The children oversaw all aspects of the meal by taking orders from the tables, cooking the food, presenting it attractively on plates, and serving it to their assembled guests.

Young waiters also served non-alcoholic fruit cocktails. Year Five teacher Hannah Barton was among the guests. She said: “It was really good to give them that independence and let them see that they could achieve something big by working together.

“The teachers took back stage and the pupils took ownership.”

The meal came after a presentation from the children about what they liked about their new building.

Miss Barton said it was also good for the teachers and pupils to meet those behind the scenes of the redevelopment.

She said: “It was great. Some of the people we have had quite a lot of contact with but a lot of the people involved in the planning we hadn’t seen before.

“It was nice that the children were able to present them with thanks.”