OUTRAGED parents have said their children are left 'starving' as their school doesn't allow enough time to queue and eat dinner.

Students at north Manchester high school, Co-op Academy, come home 'lightheaded' and exhausted, multiple parents claimed.

Charlotte Lockwood, whose daughter is in year eight claimed her child is often told she won't have enough time to eat her food after she's been served it.

Ms Lockwood said: "Sometimes she's not even bothering to queue up because she knows there isn't enough time.

"As soon as she gets home she's starving. It needs to be a lot more organised. A lot of parents are saying the same thing.

"Some parents can't afford to feed their kids at home, so this is the only meal they're getting."

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Another mum, Becky Andrews, who has a son two years above, slammed the school for sending him home exhausted.

She said: "He's coming home from school absolutely exhausted.

"He's lightheaded, because he's had nothing to eat. I don't know how they expect kids to concentrate without eating."

Another parent explained the problem is caused by long queues in the canteen.

Jo, a year nine student's parent said: "They haven't got enough time to their dinner because the queues are so long. This week my son's just been having water for his dinner.

"He's coming home starving. He comes home and he just crashes out. He says he feels light-headed. It's just not on.

"How does the school expect kids to concentrate and do their work when their bellies are rumbling?"

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Many furious parents have turned to Facebook to share the story and raise awareness of the issue.

One wrote: "None of my boys have had lunch since they went back. Queues too long and not enough time, by the time they get to the front their dinner is over."

In a statement Co-op Academy said: "At Co-op Academy Manchester we are acutely aware of our responsibility to our students and their welfare.

"We take their access to food really seriously, which is why after a consultation with parents last year, we extended our lunch times to 40 minutes at the beginning of this academic year.

"In the first few weeks of every academic year we find that students take a short while to settle in and this can make wait times longer, however to support this we ensure that there are more staff available and we encourage any students struggling to get their lunch to approach these members of staff to support them."

The school continued to reassure parents they would leave no pupil hungry or without food.

They also disputed claims that students have been told they don't have enough time to eat their lunch.

Instead, the school said they have actually extended the lunch time and allowed children to be escorted to lessons late in order for them to finish their meals.

There has also not been an instance where there is no food left at the end of lunchtime, there is always enough food for every student to have a nutritious lunch."

There are four food outlets at Co-op Academy Manchester including a grab and go counter.

"Following on from those first few days, we have seen that queues have dissipated 10-15 minutes before the end of lunch, so there is no reason why students should not be able to access their lunch of choice," Co-op Academy Manchester continued.

"We provide free breakfasts and over the pandemic we provided all of our Free School Meal (FSM) students with food vouchers, after an investment from our sponsor the Co-op of over £2.5m."

This provided students with double the amount offered by the government FSM scheme.

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