Letter in defence of the free school meals trial in Islington

Not sure if free school meals for all is the way forward? Read the letter below and see if it changes your mind. It is a letter sent to the Islington Tribune where it looks like the free school meal trial is being threatened.


Dear Tribune,

Party politics is getting in the way of children's health.

Certainly, Labour were sharp to take advantage of a temporary disarray in the Lib Dems to force through their plan for universal free school meals. But the Lib Dems are being petty and vengeful in threatening to scrap the scheme if they are re-elected.

Free school meals deserve the support of every political party. They are the principal weapon we have to stop the rapid rise in childhood obesity. The obesity epidemic in Britain is our Number One public health problem. It affects the vast majority of families, the affluent as well as the poor.

We have to cut obesity now before we suffer an epidemic in diabetes too --- for that is coming along a few years behind. Diabetes is a very expensive disease to treat. It means amputations, blindness, kidney failure. Having millions of diabetics, needing lifelong care from childhood, would break the bank of the NHS.

Primary school meals are a cost-effective investment in future health. Spending money on children's diet now will save us a fortune in a decade's time. Islington Primary Care Trust should remind the Council of these hard economic facts.

So we need to help all Islington's children. Universal free meals in primary schools are the most effective instrument we have to do this.

They have been a great success in Scotland, not only in increasing take up, but also in weaning kids off breakfasts of Mars bars and afternoon snacks of chips. The programme affects what children eat outside school, as well as inside. This is critical because research shows that children begin spending their pocket money on junk food from age nine!

The Libs Dems are hinting they will put the scrapping of free meals into their election manifesto. I urge them to reconsider. Indeed, I hope all parties will commit themselves to continuing the plan.

But the message to Islington parents is clear. Vote for whichever party you like, so long as it promises to continue providing free school meals to all primary school children. That would not just be good of your pocketbook now, it also would be good for your children in the long term.

Jack Winkler

--
Prof J T Winkler
Director, Nutrition Policy Unit
London Metropolitan University

Empty plates!

Left it a bit later to get to dining room so this was all there was left to see!The children told me that they were in fact eating 'seconds' which I suppose is a good old fashioned school dinner tradition. Must get to the hall earlier next week to capture more pictures of the actual food.

City Academy in Hackney moves to "family" style eating arrangements

The City Academy in Hackney have decided to introduce family style groupings for their school meal service. Students will be put into groups and each member will be expected to complete a 'chore'. The old adage, " you can't choose your family" is especially appropriate as it is staff that will be doing the grouping.

Looking forward to hearing how it works out! Well done to the staff for trying to find ways of overcoming the problems that lunch breaks pose in our schools. There is an interview with a pupil here and a report here.

The horrors of product placement

Best selling author Chris Cleave has written a brilliant and funny account of what product placement could look like. Do give it a read by clicking here and then rush to send your consultation response in by clicking here. The clock is ticking and the sneaky way the government are handling this mean we are now half way through consultation period.

The wonderful Green Wing writer, James Henry has also spoken out against product placement. I heartily recommend his blog to you.

Don't need dinner ladies - employ a chef according to Daily Mail

"employing an experienced chef saves the time and trouble it takes to retrain dinner ladies accustomed to reheating junk food."

Interesting article in the Daily Mail which manages to attack jamie Oliver and derides School Food Trust attemepts to improve school food and yet still celebrate good wholesome food in schools. It is about the remarkable achievents of BBC Radio 4 Food and farming award winner John Rankin at Penair School in Cornwall

See for yourself here

School does sound amazing! Wonder if I could arrange a visit?

Merton Council Children and Young Person Plan 2010

I spent yesterday morning with key staff from Merton Childrens's services and members of voluntary groups being consulted on the priorities for children and young people. The authority have to produce a plan which they publish.

One of their key priorities is reducing obesity. Merton's rates are above avaerage. As you would expect I made the case for Merton to ensure every secondary school student will have the time and space to eat a meal every day which is both tasty and freshly prepared. There was no disagreement but there was no clear agreement on how we make that happen. Tom Proctor was there from the contracts department and I know he is really doing his bit to ensure we get better food provision but the elephant in the room was how we persuade the Heads to look at their timetabling so all kids get a chance to eat in a civivlised way.

After we finished we had a lovely lunch and of course we had a table and chair for each person, enough time to eat and we didn't have to choose between eating or going to see a collegue. The food did n't run out and nobody made us stand in line for 15 mins. How different from a secondary school lunch at a Merton school!

The next step for us is to produce a written submission for the Childrens and young person plan to see if we can get our secondary school aims enshrined. We are meeting with the contracts department on friday 4 Dec to look at the timetable for going out to tender for a new catering company. We now have governors from each of the secondary schools who are deeply unhappy with the food to come on to a secondary school sub committee. 2010 is going to be the year Merton secondary school meals get dramatically better.

We are going to have to return to some good old fashioned campaigning to speed things up! Please join us by clicking here

If you have any points you would like us to raise about any Merton School dinner issue, primary or secondary, let me know by Thursday 3 Dec.

Todays school dinner

No time to comment today as I need to get ready for tonights Merton Parents committee meeting