School meals give committee food for thought

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Have your say on what your children are fed at school

The national “feed me better” campaign by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver brought school meals under the media spotlight like never before.

This increased focus on what local schoolchildren are fed prompted Hounslow's Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel (formerly the Education and Training Scrutiny Panel) to look at the Council’s policy on school meals.

The review, which runs until October, will see members examining the performance of catering contract specifications, as well as looking at schools’ own criteria for selecting school meal providers.

Parents, pupils and teachers will be among those invited to give evidence to the committee, which will present a final report of its findings and recommendations towards the end of October.

As well as looking at the quality of the food on the plate by visiting school dining rooms and trying the meals for themselves, committee members will be finding out how pupils are encouraged to make healthy choices outside school, and looking at how some of the programmes that are already in place are making a difference to improving pupils diets.

Members want to hear about resident’s experiences of the quality and variety of school meals.

September 14, 2005