Dinner winner! Nine-year-old NeverSeconds blogger Martha Payne beats council censors

 
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Asher McShane15 June 2012

A council which censored a nine-year-old girl's school meals blog said it was lifting the ban on photography in her canteen.

The u-turn came amid a Twitter and media storm about the decision that affectively shut down Martha Payne's website NeverSeconds.

Councillor Roddy McCuish, Leader of Argyll & Bute Council said: "There is no place for censorship in this Council and never will be whilst I am leader.

"I have advised senior officers that this Administration intends to clarify the Council's policy position in regard to taking photos in schools.

"I have therefore requested senior officials to consider immediately withdrawing the ban on pictures from the school dining hall until a report can be considered by Elected Members.

"This will allow the continuation of the "Neverseconds" blog written by an enterprising and imaginative pupil, Martha Payne which has also raised lots of money for charity.

"But we all must also accept that there is absolutely no place for the type of inaccurate and abusive attack on our catering and dining hall staff, such as we saw in one newspaper yesterday which considerably inflamed the situation.

"That, of course, was not the fault of the blog, but of the paper.

"We need to find a united way forward so I am going to bring together our catering staff, the pupils, councillors and council officials - to ensure that the council continues to provide healthy, nutrious and attractive school meals. That "School Meals Summit" will take place later this summer.

"I will also meet Martha and her father as soon as I can, along with our lead councillor on Education, Michael Breslin to seek her continued engagement, along with lots of other pupils, in helping the council to get this issue right.

"By so doing Martha Payne and her friends will have had a strong and lasting influence not just on school meals, but on the whole of Argyll & Bute."

Before the news that the ban was overturned, Martha's father Dave Payne told the BBC: "My daughter enjoys meeting the staff at lunch, she enjoyed writing and taking the photos. I would like to see her continuing to write."

Earlier human rights group Big Brother Watch said the authority's move to ban Martha from taking photos in the school canteen to use on her NeverSeconds blog, which has been viewed by more than two million people, was "an authoritarian infringement on her civil liberties".

Its comments come as celebrity chef and school meals campaigner Jamie Oliver offered his support to the schoolgirl.

In a Tweet he wrote: "Stay strong Martha, RT this to show your support #neverseconds."

Nick Pickles, director of privacy and civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch, said: “The Council have absolutely no right to stop Martha taking photos.

“It is an absurd waste of council time, jumping to an authoritarian infringement on a nine-year-old’s civil liberties rather than answer the entirely legitimate questions about the food they are providing for children.

“The message from the public is clear – stop bullying this young girl and let her blog. The Council should concentrate on getting its own house in order rather than trying to silence a child’s freedom of expression.”

However in an extraordinary statement defending the decision the council said: "The photographic images uploaded appear to only represent a fraction of the choices available to pupils, so a decision has been made by the Council to stop photos being taken in the school canteen."

It added: "The council has had no complaints for the last two years about the quality of school meals other than one from the Payne family received on 6 June and there have been no changes to the service on offer since the introduction of the blog."

The father of nine-year-old Martha Payne revealed on the blog yesterday that it had been shut down.

The blog had nearly two million hits, raised almost £2,000 for charity, and had the support of celebrity food campaigner and chef Jamie Oliver.

Martha used the blog to post pictures of school meals, and would rate them out of ten.

She would also note down how many mouthfuls each plate took to finish, give the food a health rating, and note down the price of each meal.

She also set up a donations page for Mary's Meals, a charity which provides school meals to children around the world.

She aimed to raise £7,000. One day her blog was closed, the total raised stood at nearly £14,000. One user, Robert Harvey from Lincolnshire, gave £500, writing: "This is a donation to say "well done" for raising all the money."

Charity Mary’s Meals said today that Martha's support for Mary's Meals was "amazing."

A spokesman said: “Martha’s support for Mary’s Meals has been amazing and we are extremely grateful for everything that she has done to help us reach some of the hungriest children in the world.

“We are overwhelmed by the huge response to her efforts today which has led to so many more people donating to her online donation page. Thanks to this fantastic support, Martha has now raised enough money to build a kitchen in Malawi for children receiving Mary’s Meals as part of our Sponsor A School initiative and has broken the record for hitting a Sponsor A School online fundraising target in the quickest amount of time!

“The fact Martha has broken her target means we have been able to allocate her a school in Malawi, the African country where Mary’s Meals feeds more than 540,000 children every school day. Lirangwe Primary School in Blantyre, Malawi – which has 1963 pupils – will soon have a brand new kitchen shelter thanks to Martha and her supporters and, if donations continue at the current rate, it will not be long before a year’s feeding costs for all of the Lirangwe children are covered too.

“Mary Meals is a global movement that sets up school feeding projects in some of the world’s poorest communities where hunger and poverty stop children from gaining an education. It costs us just £10.70 to provide Mary’s Meals to a child for a whole school year, so any support, no matter how small, can help us make a real difference.”

Martha's father Dave posted on the blog yesterday: "Veg’s Dad, Dave, here. I felt it’s important to add a few bits of info to the blog tonight. Martha’s school have been brilliant and supportive from the beginning and I’d like to thank them all.

"I contacted Argyll and Bute Council when Martha told me what happened at school today and they told me it was their decision to ban Martha’s photography.

"It is a shame that a blog that today went through 2 million hits, which has inspired debates at home and abroad and raised nearly £2000 for charity is forced to end."

The blog encouraged students and teachers from around the world to send in their pictures.

Martha said yesterday she would "miss sharing" her blog with readers.

Martha earlier wrote: "This morning in maths I got taken out of class by my head teacher and taken to her office. I was told that I could not take any more photos of my school dinners because of a headline in a newspaper today.

"I only write my blog not newspapers and I am sad I am no longer allowed to take photos.

"I will miss sharing and rating my school dinners and I’ll miss seeing the dinners you send me too. I don’t think I will be able to finish raising enough money for a kitchen for Mary’s Meals either. Goodbye, VEG"

Hundreds of people left messages of support on the closed blog page.

Arygll and Bute Council were not immediately available for comment.

There was outrage on Twitter at the decision.

John Prescott wrote: "@argyllandbute Stopping a talented 9 year-old's freedom of expression is a really bad idea. Let her blog!"

User Chloe Roberts wrote: "@argyllandbute you should be SO ashamed"

The council's statement in full:

"Argyll and Bute Council wholly refutes the unwarranted attacks on its schools catering service which culminated in national press headlines which have led catering staff to fear for their jobs. The Council has directly avoided any criticism of anyone involved in the ‘never seconds’ blog for obvious reasons despite a strongly held view that the information presented in it misrepresented the options and choices available to pupils however this escalation means we had to act to protect staff from the distress and harm it was causing. In particular, the photographic images uploaded appear to only represent a fraction of the choices available to pupils, so a decision has been made by the Council to stop photos being taken in the school canteen.

There have been discussions between senior council staff and Martha’s father however, despite an acknowledgement that the media coverage has produced these unwarranted attacks, he intimated that he would continue with the blog.

The council has had no complaints for the last two years about the quality of school meals other than one from the Payne family received on 6 June and there have been no changes to the service on offer since the introduction of the blog.

Pupils have a daily choice of two meals from a menu which is designed with pupils, parents and teachers. Our summer menu is about to be launched and includes main course choices like meat or vegetarian lasagne served with carrots and garlic bread or chicken pie with puff pastry, mashed potato and mixed vegetables.

Pupils can choose from at least two meals every day. They pay £2 for two courses and this could be a starter and a main or a main and a desert. Each meal comes with milk or water. Pupils can have as much salad and bread as they want. Salad, vegetables, fruit, yoghurt and cheese options are available every day. These are standing options and are not a result of any changes in response to the blog site.

As part of the curriculum for excellence, pupils in all our schools are regularly taught about healthy eating and at lunch breaks staff encourage pupils to make good choices from what is on offer. We use a system called ‘Nutmeg’ to make sure everything is nutritionally balanced. Our staff also get nutrition awareness training so they know how to provide a good healthy meal. There is portion sized guidance which we adhere to and it is matched to the age of the child so they get the right amount of food. Second portions would mean too many calories for pupils.

In Lochgilphead Primary School we are piloting a new pre-ordering scheme which is designed to encourage class discussion around meal choices and also improves the accuracy of meal choices. The pupils use a touch screen to select their lunch option and the data is downloaded in the kitchen so they know how many portions of each meal are required. As they place their order, the pupils are given a coloured band which relates to their meal choice that day. They wear it during the morning, and at lunchtime they hand it to the catering assistant, who will give them the corresponding meal.

The Council’s focus is now on supporting the school in the education of young people in Argyll and Bute."

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