Friday July 3rd 2026
Alexandra Parade Primary School
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Catherine Hunter
Proposals to relocate the dining area at Alexandra Parade Primary School to help facilitate the rollout of universal free school meals have been submitted to the city council.
A planning application sent to the planning department highlights that the existing dining hall and kitchen are located within the basement of the school with the dining hall only accommodating approximately 40 pupils in a single lunch sitting.
There is also a separate packed lunch area on the ground floor which can separate friend groups depending on their lunch option and requires additional staff for lunch-time supervision.
A design statement submitted to the council claims that with the roll out of universal free school meals to all primary pupils, the dining hall will not have sufficient capacity to meet the projected increase in demand for school meals.
Concerns have also been raised that the dining hall and kitchen are not accessible to staff and pupils with mobility impairments as there is no direct access from the classrooms and pupils are required to go outside to access the dining hall through an external staircase and a long and narrow corridor.
Kitchen deliveries and refuse removal via an external staircase also makes day to day operations challenging and raises safety concerns, particularly during the winter months.
Due to the lack of available space within the basement for the dining facilities to expand, it is proposed to relocate these to the ground floor, which would also offer improved accessibility and operational efficiency.
Glasgow City Council’s education services, who submitted the application, feel that the most suitable area on the ground floor to relocate the dining hall and kitchen are the three classrooms directly above, to the rear of the building.
The three ground floor classrooms will be relocated to other general purpose (GP) rooms on the ground and first floor to avoid the loss of teaching space.
Following completion of the new dining hall and kitchen, the existing dining hall and kitchen can be repurposed as additional GP accommodation to meet the future needs of the school.
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