Healthy food takes over (From Witney Gazette)

Healthy food takes over

12:46pm Thursday 9th November 2006 in Witney By Nione Meakin

HEALTHY food seems to have proved a hit in some county secondary schools, as more pupils sign up for school dinners.

Bucking a national drop in pupils taking school dinners, several county secondary schools have reported an increase since they cut out junk food and introduced healthy eating options on their menus.

Unimpressed with the nutritional content of food produced by outside caterers, Oxford's Cheney School spent £250,000 on refurbishing its 50-year-old kitchens, and from September, has been cooking its food on-site.

For £2.40, students can choose four hot or cold items, including a side salad and pudding.

Headteacher, Alan Lane, said there was now a third more children taking free school meals.

He added: "Having school meals now is a very pleasant experience, and it's both good nutritionally and socially, whereas before it was not one of the school's strongest features.

"I think the changes made to the meals service are one of the best things to happen to the school in the past three years."

Peers School, in Littlemore, Oxford, reported a similar situation.

Headteacher, Lorna Caldicott, said since they had opened their own canteen on site in September, the numbers of pupils - and staff - taking school dinners was on the rise, something she attributed to a healthier, more varied menu and choice of meal times.

She said: "The new canteen is proving to be a big success, and certainly pupils dropping out of school meals has not proved a problem here. In fact, numbers seem to be gradually increasing. The pupils are just enjoying eating a nice meal and chatting to their friends."

Abingdon School said it had not experienced any drop in the number of pupils eating school meals, and said as it had been offering healthy meals for several years.

At Matthew Arnold School, headteacher, Katherine Ryan, said takings for meals were down, but she believed this was not a reaction to the introduction of healthier meals, but a result of the additional time it took to serve children the new 'restaurant-style' menu. She said the removal of snack vending machines had also left a dent in finances. She added: "Overall, the children have been positive about the new menu - we haven't had a backlash. We've just got to work on some strategies to get pupils through faster at lunchtime."

Rod Walker, headteacher of Henry Box School, Witney, said: "We have noticed a slight decline in the number of pupils having school lunches. Our contractors, Harrisons, of Thame, have always been very good at providing healthy and tasty meals. It just seems to be a trend away from school lunches. It's a concern.

"I think it is partly the Jamie Oliver effect, but since our lunches are of good quality, in our case I think it's that more pupils are having packed lunches through primary school, and so they continue to have packed lunches at secondary school. We have noticed the decline with our year-seven students particularly."

In a survey for BBC News, 35 of 59 local authorities questioned said the number of pupils eating school dinners had gone down. Of those, 71 per cent agreed that Jamie Oliver's healthy meals campaign was a reason. Overall, there was a decline of 5.8 per cent, though some areas had seen decreases of up to 30 per cent.