PARENTS must continue to ride the wave created by Jamie Oliver’s campaign to improve school meals and sign up their children if school kitchens are to survive, according to a public health official.

The TV chef’s campaign to improve the quality of school dinners forced a blanket culture change by schools and Government officials across the country.

The battle to improve the nutritional value of the meals and the numbers eating them is not over though, with a call for more people to sign up if cooking meals is to remain economically viable for school caterers.

Fiona Dickens, public health programme manager at Swindon Council, said: “If you don’t get many to sign up it’s not viable and the school loses money, with the costs associated with running a kitchen.

“Many schools are now clubbing together. Those with kitchens can cook the meals and send their meals out to other schools to share costs.

“Some schools have sold their kitchens off in recent years and replaced them with IT suites.”

The comments come during National School Meals Week, with schools across the nation hoping to provide one free meal before the weekend, with an aim of signing more parents up long-term.

In Swindon, the council’s public health team funds the Swindon Healthy Schools Programme and recently backed a training programme for school catering managers fronted by the dinner lady who inspired Jamie Oliver.

Jeanette Orrey, school meals policy advisor to the Soil Association, began the two-month training programme in September. The council will listen to feedback and may roll it out to more school caterers.

One school which puts itself ahead of the curve created by the Naked Chef is Lethbridge Primary, which began serving its pupils organic food 10 years ago.

Under stewardship of catering manager Anna Spooner, the school was a joint winner of the Soil Association’s Highland Spring School Dinner award in 2005, and was presented with the accolade by Oliver himself.

Since then the school has gone from strength to strength, with between 850 and 900 plates served per week at a cost of £2.30 per head to a roll of 480 pupils.

Anna said: “We have an open evening every year for parents to see exactly what we serve the children. They seem very happy.”

The school has not signed up to this week’s national initiative, but is confident of the work going on to improve its school meals.

“I’m totally confident in what we do. I’m a pretty good cook,” said Anna, who has worked with the school for 10 years.

“In other schools, you hear they do 40 plates a day and use packet sponge mixes.

“Children need to learn how to cook, and not just from a packet. If you can show them what proper food tastes like, they will be more likely to cook for themselves in the future.”

l Tomorrow we join Eldene Primary School for dinner time.