Don't let pupils go to chip shop for lunch

TV chef Prue Leith said today that many headteachers were afraid parents would accuse them of "infringing" their children's rights if the gates were locked.

But parents would be happy for their children to stay at school if canteens were more welcoming, she said.

About 400,000 pupils have stopped eating at school since Jamie Oliver's campaign to make lunches healthier led to the introduction of strict limits on salt, fat and sugar.

Ms Leith, chairwoman of the School Food Trust, will tell a conference in London today the Government wants to see a million more children eating at school but that heads must make canteens more civilised and, if necessary, spend money to improve facilities and cut queues.

Ms Leith said: "They [pupils] don't like queuing for 20 minutes, they don't like having only half an hour for lunch. It's noisy and unpleasant - not in all schools, but a lot.

"We are saying to heads, 'look at the dining environment, make the lunch hour longer or stagger classes - there are lots of ways of doing this'." But, she said, if pupils were allowed off-site at lunchtime, they were likely to buy chips and other unhealthy foods.

"One of the things that is stopping children having school dinners is the fact there is a chippy just down the road," said Ms Leith.

"The reason is headteachers tend to think it is not their business to tell children where to go to lunch.

"They are a bit nervous of parents thinking, 'you are infringing my child's right'."

But, she said, schools that had consulted parents before banning children going out for lunch had found most were supportive. The conference is being held at St Augustine's Secondary School in Kilburn and will be attended by Children, Schools and Families Secretary Ed Balls.

Jackie Schneider, chairwoman of Merton Parents for Better Food in Schools, will call for a national "audit" of canteens, believing it will expose the appalling condition into which many have been allowed to fall.

Ms Schneider said: "It's an absolute disgrace that high school children have to queue for such a long time and that there is such a shortage of seating space.

"It's not unknown for schools to have 1,200 pupils and only have the capacity to fit about 100 to 150 of them into the canteen. It's not good enough."

She said that pupils and parents could be won over, provided they were served freshly cooked food in decent surroundings.

"I'm not saying, give them tofu and organic soya milk," said Ms Schneider.

"I'm talking about things like shepherd's pie - good quality, basic English food, with the occasional spaghetti bolognese and chicken korma thrown in."