SCHOOL dinner ladies have gone back to the classroom to brush up on their culinary skills.

New regulations about the nutritional value of school dinners became compulsory in East Riding schools in September.

It followed the ground-breaking school dinners campaign by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.

Now the dinner ladies are taking City and Guilds professional cookery courses at Bishop Burton College to make sure their skills are up to the job.

The course is not only involves cooking, but also teaches the dinner ladies about health and safety, hygiene, catering for specialist diets, budgeting, and menu planning.

Kathryn Blackburn, cook-in-charge at Nafferton Primary School, near Driffield, said: "I will definitely employ the new techniques we are learning.

"I'm already passing information down to colleagues – it will definitely make the job easier."