For growing children, lunchtime is a vital moment in every day. Full-time education is demanding. Afternoon lessons only work because they come after a break – and food. And children, like adults, often mind a great deal about what they eat. So school menus are important.
Last week’s announcement that school food standards in England are being updated thus deserved its positive reception. It is right that the Department for Education should shape what comes out of school canteens, as should the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. England’s last review was 13 years ago, and school food has fallen a long way down the policy agenda since Jamie Oliver’s televised war on Turkey Twizzlers. Other pressing issues such as special educational needs provision, and falling school rolls, have taken its place.
