A FRESH start in school dinners at Okehampton Primary School appears to have been a hit with pupils. Primary schools across West Devon, including Okehampton, last week began serving healthier, freshly cooked dinners to pupils through the new Fresh Start menus. By the second day, when a choice of spaghetti bolognaise or lentil bake was on offer, headteacher Brian Cunningham said 190 dinners had been served ? an increase on the daily average of around 30%. The meals were piloted in 24 schools last term following the banning of Turkey Twizzlers, chicken nuggets and other similar high-fat, high-salt processed meat products from all Devon schools, and are now being rolled out across the county. Okehampton Primary has been joined by Boasley Cross, Bridestowe, Chagford, Hatherleigh, Highhampton, Lydford, South Tawton, Northlew and Ashbury and North Tawton primaries in serving the new menus. And the dinners seem to be popular with pupils at Okehampton College. Year 5 pupils Giles Heard and Josh Hicks both said they had dinners every day and the new food had improved since last term. Giles said he liked fish which he described as ?brain food?. Bryony Franco and Emily Colling said they had schools dinners less often, but nonetheless gave the thumbs-up to the meal. Parent Wendy Alford, whose son attends the primary, said healthy eating was an issue of which parents were very aware. ?It is nice for them to have a variety. They might try things at school which they wouldn?t normally try at home,? she said. Mrs Alford said although the new dinners now cost 10p more a day, she was prepared to pay the extra cost: ?I personally would pay a bit more to get a bit more quality and fresher ingredients.? Mr Cunningham said he was ?delighted more produce was being sourced locally? for the menus. He said the primary had invited parents to come and try the school dinners with their children to banish some of the misconceptions. Mr Cunningham said parents whose recollection of school dinners was of ?stringy liver and soggy cabbage? would find things had changed a lot since they were at school: ?The job now is to encourage parents whose children don?t have school dinners any more to come back.? The menus feature a main meal and a vegetarian option with more dishes sourced locally and prepared and cooked from scratch by Devon Direct Services or DDS. The menus include roasts, fish, pasta and a selection of freshly made pies along with fresh fruit, low fat yoghurt and specially made puddings. All the food has been approved by a specialist nutritionist employed by Devon County Council. The county council is backing the scheme with more cash to provide healthier ingredients, training for support staff and to ensure cooks have the right equipment in their kitchens. Devon?s executive councillor for children?s services John Smith, said: ?Devon has been leading the way in introducing healthier meals in schools for some time. And we were making improvements long before the issue hit the headlines and buying as much food locally as possible.? The county council set up a review of meals in primary schools in autumn 2003. ?I value the loyalty and dedication of the staff who work in our school kitchens and we are relying on their help and enthusiasm to carry through these improvements. ?But we also need the support of parents and carers. We want families to encourage their children to try these new meals and to tell us what they like and what they don?t like. ?We are trying to keep the price of a school meal down and the best way we can do this is to increase the number of children eating school dinners.? The council says the menus have been designed to provide a balanced meal that gives children around one third of all their daily nutritional requirements. The new meals are prepared on the premises at Okehampton Primary, Boasley Cross, Bridestowe, Chagford, North and South Tawton and Hatherleigh. The kitchen at Okehampton is cooking for Lydford School, while staff at Hatherleigh prepare dinners for Highampton and Northlew and Ashbury primaries.
