From sausages to spaghetti bolognese, apple crumble and custard to birthday cake, children at St Joseph’s Prep School in Gravesend have certainly been spoiled when it comes to lunches.

Margaret Arnold, 70, has been serving up such tasty dishes for decades, having joined the Gravesend primary school as a dinner lady almost 31 years ago.

Later on she became a dining room assistant and then she got the top job cooking the food in the kitchen, where she has stayed for more than 20 years.

You can imagine just how emotional she was to wave goodbye to pupils, teachers and cookery colleagues then, with the end of the summer term marking the end of her career.

“I will miss the children, they are my friends and we all get on so well,” she said.

“This is a lovely little school. I have loved it here and I will miss it.”

Mrs Arnold, who lives in Chalk, was following in her mother Violet’s footsteps when she first arrived at the school.

Since then her sister Joan has also worked there, as have her daughters Louise and Caroline, the latter of which is still there and helps out at breakfast and after-school clubs.

Indeed, there are multiple opportunities for the pupils to have a good meal during the day, but Mrs Arnold has always been focused on lunchtime.

Among the regulars are spaghetti bolognese followed by apple crumble and custard, which was being prepared when the Gravesend Messenger visited, and smelled a lot better than the lumpy mash and rice pudding some grew up with.

“Their favourites are chicken pie, meat pie, spaghetti bolognese and roast dinner,” said Mrs Arnold.

“Sausages — they love sausages. Those are probably the favourite of all.”

Fitting then that they were on the menu for the pupils’ last lunch of the school year, followed by birthday cake.

At least one child at the school enjoys a birthday each week, so a celebratory cake gets served up for pudding each Thursday.

With Mrs Arnold and her recipes becoming such an institution, how do her and the school plan to move on come September?

Niki Bull and Maria Ritchie will be manning the kitchen, with their predecessor already looking forward to a well deserved trip to Singapore, Australia and New Zealand later in the year.

Also bidding farewell to the school in Old Road East last week was deputy head teacher Caroline Stanley.

Her 12 years at St Joseph’s has brought the curtain down on a teaching career spanning almost four decades and she was delighted to be leaving the school in a good place.

Last year Ofsted rated the school as “inadequate” following reports of bullying, but it has enjoyed a remarkable turnaround in the last 12 months.

“This year our results have been phenomenal and I am leaving it in good shape,” she said.

“I will miss the children and being able to help them progress, get over their fears, make them more independent, confident, and determined to do their very best.

“We want them all to be the best they can be.”

All Year 6 pupils have been offered their first choice secondary school and 82% of those who sat the 11+ are heading to a grammar school.

SATs results were above the national average in a number of subjects, with none falling below the expected standard.

The Gravesend Messenger also featured pictures from the school’s sports day, where pupils were also celebrating success representing Gravesham at the Kent Schools Games.