A Bicester secondary school has appointed its very own Jamie Oliver-style chef to make sure its school dinners are shipshape.

The Cooper School in Churchill Road has appointed ex-Royal Navy cook Colin Epathite as its own version of the Naked Chef to make its school dinners healthier.

In the month since he started, catering manager Mr Epathite has extended the school's breakfast service to include more healthy options such as cereals, orange juice, fresh fruit and yoghurts.

And he has spruced up the lunch menu with a soup of the day, two main courses, a vegetarian option, fresh vegetables, a salad counter and jacket potatoes.

He said: "It will obviously take some time to make inroads into the eating habits of students, but long term I want to expand the operation to include the provision of healthy food across the whole school.

"I feel it's important that students have a healthy diet and will be working to promote that.

"The challenge of the new nutritious guidelines being introduced from September is one I'm looking forward to and delivering the benefits of these guidelines to staff and students alike."

The school appointed Mr Epathite when it decided to take on responsibility for its own catering after Oxfordshire County Council stopped providing meals at secondary schools.

Headteacher Ben Baxter said: "Educating children and ensuring that they grow up to lead safe, healthy, happy and successful lives is at the heart of what we do here.

"The move to taking on responsibility for catering means that we are able to provide quality school meals with locally-sourced products as part of our drive to help our students pursue healthy lifestyles."