School Dinner Revolution

Synopsis

Sheila Dillon is joined by guests including Jeanette Orrey of the Food for Life Partnership. Known as the school cook who inspired Jamie Oliver, government advisor Jeanette discusses her latest initiative, the School Cooks Network.

A hot and healthy daily meal should be taken for granted by all our children and young people. And that's why school meals have been consistently high on the government's agenda, (with a little help from celebrity chefs and dinner ladies). The latest development is a commitment to free school meals for another half a million pupils from low-income families.

Faced with complex new nutritional standards, school cooks all over Britain are pushing the boundaries in finding ways of improving the quality of school dinners, using fresh local produce and working within tiny budgets. And ideas of healthy eating and cooking are filtering their way into the curriculum; cooking clubs are multiplying, and increasing numbers of schools have their own kitchen gardens.

Producer: Sukey Firth.