THE state of kitchens in Oxfordshire schools has been revealed for the first time — and most get the thumbs-up.

On a website that, for the first time, has published results of environmental health inspections at eateries across the county, no schools got the lowest zero star rating.

One of the two schools that received a ‘poor’ one-star evaluation on the national ‘scores on the doors’ website invited officers to return — promising a much higher rating on a second visit.

New Marston Primary School headteacher Zara D’Archambaud said: “Feedback like this is disappointing. We believe we are offering a good level of service and the children increasingly enjoy our school meals.”

She said the low rating was linked to the fact there had been no hot water available that day, which had since been fixed — and pointed out that the school had received an ‘outstanding’ rating for health and safety following an inspection a month after the environmental health visit.

Ms D’Archambaud said: “The kitchen is running to a high standard and we would welcome a new inspection.”

Ratings are not available for every single county school, and in some cases are several years old. District councils are responsible for passing information to the website.

Among those published are 25 with the top five-star rating, which means hygiene is excellent, 116 with a four-star result, 50 with three stars and 19 with a ‘fair’ two-star result.

Top scorers included Barth-olomew School, Eynsham, Magdalen College School, Oxford, King’s Meadow Primary, Bicester and Our Lady’s First School, Cowley.

Fitzharrys School, Abingdon, got a two-star rating — but headteacher Susan Tranter said she was sending the report back and claimed the inspector had misread food labels, reading production dates as ‘consume-by’ dates.

She said: “It should rate better than fair because my staff work hard to serve nutritionally balanced, healthy food in an industrial-standard kitchen.”

Information obtained by the Oxford Mail found that no school kitchens in Oxford with rat infestations. Cutteslowe Primary School’s May 2008 report found there had been a problem with rats in the school earlier that year, but it did not involve the kitchens and was not deemed a problem.

Other common problems included kitchens failing to adequately clean heavy-duty tin openers, noted at The Cherwell School and Orchard Meadow School, Blackbird Leys; flaking paint and stained wall tiles at New Hinksey Primary School, and concerns over temperatures dropping on food cooked at Orchard Meadow Primary School and then delivered to St Christopher’s Primary School in Cowley.