First evidence of school meals is in 1899 when the London School Board established the School Diners Association.
The elected government of 1906 passed various measures to try to deal with this problem of the community. They were particularly concerned to try to improve the health of children. They passed laws to ensure midwives were notified of each new-born baby, they introduced School Medical Examinations. Most importantly in 1906, they gave permission for schools to offer meals to their pupils. One asks what has changed with regard to government trying to improve the health of the nation, unfortunately what successive governments say and do on children’s health and dietary requirements are often in conflict with other areas of their governance like advertising and funding.

In the 50’s I was a child my first recollections of school dinners it was simple for us we were hungry there were few so called ‘junk foods ‘around and for some of this period sweets were still rationed. We had school milk warmed on classroom pipes and nothing else to eat between breakfast, if there had been any, and lunch. Our dinner ladies were our gods we ate everything offered and lived for the day it was seconds for our table. Looking back it was a very healthy diet meat and two veg lots of carrots, cabbage and mashed swede and yes we had a delicious pud. Meals were not cheap I am sure I took 2/6d to school each week and the providers were I assume the LEA.

By 1970 my children had arrived by now and in 1975 I really understood the value of school meals knowing there was a balanced meal given at lunchtime took the pressure off me and a tea was all that was needed at the end of the day. The deregulation of school meals in 1980 caused parents great problems by this time I had moved to live in Dorset where all primary schools converted kitchens into libraries and I had to pack lunch for a very small boy who by the time he arrived home in the evening was too tired to eat a cooked meal. In my opinion and that of other like minded parents this was the beginning of the problem to some extent for children’s eating patterns and unbalanced diets. Parents were aware of a change in the school meal service and at that time it was considered progress for children to be given option and choice in what they would purchase from the school canteen chips were introduced on most days along with pastas etc.

My experience over the last 25 years in every aspect of schools is that immediately things go wrong the blame parents lies with parents. Prue Leith warned that the decline in traditional family meal times meant growing numbers of children could not use a knife and fork., I have no doubt she may be right in a few homes as would have been right for all generations before today but with a reach of over six million parent members in our organisation who find it hard to hear negative comments on their parenting when they have today’s world to struggle with, it is hard to take the responsibility as today’s parents for the inevitable change in society parents have little or no control over this. If parents choose not to have a family meal every evening that is their decision not for you me of any other person to challenge, we must not assume because they do not conform to past practice the children are not given a balanced nutrional diet. As with many other areas no two nutritionalists will always agree on what this contains and so some extend it may be slightly different for each child. Therein lies a problem for you the managers and providers of school meals dare I say an unenviable task of trying to please all with many masters and most of all children to get it right for I think you can consider you do incredibly well in most places most of the time.
Okay there have always been pressures on us but I would venture to say none more than today, obviously for parents but also for the school meals service who face the same often soul destroying response to food provided both at home and at school. Children are open to vast choice and each food manufacturer claims to made their product to be “even better”, “even larger, sweeter” and they have attractive packaging with offers attached . Buy these cakes and get a free Barbie bracelet, buy this sugary cereal and collect points for school sports or music, buy these cakes and they will all have icing sugar faces ranging from Thomas Tank to DR Who , need I go on. How many of us have reached the supermarket check-out without some junk food or drink being slipped into the trolley?

Pressures come from aggressive advertising both on television and probably more now in children’s magazines and most of all on super-market shelves. Prue also suggested parents to think about how much money they give to children to spend, so-called pocket money which they are given daily to stop children will buying something on the way to school, this could work for younger children but teenagers earn their own money and government encourage them to be independent in one breath and expects them to be adults by 11. I have tried to re-mote control a teenage who takes themselves to school with little success it is not realistic to expect parents to continually go against the odds and whilst we will do our part in encouraging our children to understand the consequences of a poor diet we must allow for the fact that part of childhood is sweets and treats. On how many radio phone-in programmes and cookery programmes do we hear adults talking about the puddings their mother made and the sweets they bought from the shop, usually after school.

The future, sooner rather than later we will have to accept life has changed dramatically over the last ten years. Few families have a parent at home all day and inevitably families cannot always eat together during the week and do not arrive home before six o’clock. We have to accept the change and not lambaste parents for not always being able to sit down together to eat a freshly cooked meal. Things will not change back, they rarely do and so the importance of a cooked meal at school eaten with others is even more important.

Now I care for four grandchildren, one of nine years old in whose school parents got together and persuaded the school to open up a kitchen so for the last year we have had schools diners much to the joy of parents and children…..well. Even now it has taken time we as parents and carers have had to work hard with our meals providers to ensure we follow the National School Meal Regulations 2006 with menus the children will eat and enough quantity. I accept this is far easier at primary level.

Jamie Oliver - it would be churlish to dismiss the efforts Jamie put into his cause for school meals and not include him in this debate and whilst parents will applaud his reasoning it would seem it was done without considering the consequence for the future of school meals long term. No doubt there would be some providers in some areas who were not giving good value but as was pointed out by Unison general secretary some time ago when the then Education Secretary Ruth Kelly promised money to improve meals, “there will be little impact if schools don’t have the right equipment,” and went on to warn that the situation could have a ‘devastating impact’ on the health of the next generation. “Children will only get decent food if we invest in training the workforce and making sure that every school has the facility to cook meals from scratch, using fresh ingredients.” There are many examples of parents taking children out of school meals as a consequence of the Jamie Oliver programme resulting in the ending, in some schools, the provision for all. So whilst parents must be the first educators when they are not there it is down to you good people to feed our children and if you have the time, share the menus and eating plans with parents so those who may not have had such good role models as children will learn how to give their children a good diet. Supporting parents not blaming them will produce well informed parents of the future.