A SCHOOL has requested a re-inspection of its kitchen after it was given a low hygiene rating.

St Peter's School, in Clifton, was handed a rating of one out of five by City of York Council's food inspectors when they discovered a major improvement was needed.

The boarding school had previously been awarded the highest achievable rating of a five, but its senior leaders have requested the kitchen is looked at again after claiming the problems had stemmed from documentation systems.

A spokeswoman for the school said: "St Peter’s School was inspected by City of York Council’s Food and Safety Unit on September 25, 2015.

"Having previously been graded five in all previous inspections, we were extremely disappointed with this outcome.

"We immediately commissioned an external auditor whose conclusion was that the school in no way merits a grading at this level.

"The downgrading appears to relate primarily to issues with paperwork in the transition between two systems for documentation.

"We have responded to the findings accordingly.

"We have requested a re-inspection, and we fully expect to achieve a grade 5, in line with all previous inspections at St Peter’s.

The same risk scoring system is used to rate school kitchen's, takeaways and restaurants. The lower the score, the better.

St Peter's was given ten out of 25 for hygiene, 10 out of 25 for structural and 20 out of 30 for management.

St Peter's School was founded in 627 AD and provides an education for 560 girls and boys aged 13 to 18-years-old.

All food hygiene ratings are available for the public to view online at https://www.foodhygieneratings.org.uk/