School teachers call for better meals for students
In Britain, schools that took part in celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s campaign to rid canteens of junk food say they have recorded improvement in children’s academic performance and a drop in the number of fights between pupils.
Children are returning to afternoon lessons ready to learn having eaten a healthy lunch, schools in Greenwich, south London, said yesterday.
Headmistress at Kidbrooke School, Trisha Jaffe, said the biggest improvements are in the children who previously had the worst behaviour.
“Sugary and processed foods have a high impact on children’s concentration and we found their behaviour would deteriorate in the afternoon,” she said.
Greenwich council intends to offer the new menus in all its secondary and primary schools with a spokesperson saying: “Schools are reporting better behaviour and sickness in kitchen staff has gone down. Staff feel more motivated.”
The Department of Social and Family Affairs provided €6.3 million this year for school meals.
In 2003, just €3.2m was spent in this area but it is becoming increasingly popular, according to officials, with up to 77,000 pupils benefiting from meals in up to 730 schools.
“A lot of schools in disadvantaged areas have breakfast schemes but we’d love to have the scheme extended so that lunch is available too. Breakfast, where it is in place, has had a marked effect on the children with more sustained energy levels throughout the morning,” Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) general secretary, John Carroll said.
Meanwhile, Jamie’s pioneering series is also being blamed for the closure of a British food manufacturing plant with the loss of 350 jobs. Grampian Country Food Group in Yorkshire has announced its intention to close the factory at Hellaby, near Rotherham, which produces processed chicken foods such as burgers and nuggets.
