Jamie's School Dinners — Do Something

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Exclusive 4radio podcast: "Extra helpings" of Jamie

What did the dinner ladies really think about Jamie's kitchen intervention? Was he welcomed with open arms, or did they think he was interfering with their tried and tested dishes?

Join Jamie as he finds out exactly what the dinner ladies thought of his campaign. Download or listen at www.channel4radio.com



	Put pressure on the Local Education Authority (LEA) and the school meal supplier contracted by them, to provide better meals. Most school meals are provided by suppliers contracted by the LEA but all too often the food is poor-quality junk. Your first step is to find out exactly who to contact in the school and what to do if you feel you're not getting a fair hearing. The path to change may be hard, and rocky. The suppliers are in business to make a profit and their relationship with the school or LEA may not be straightforward. Persistent, long-term, nationwide lobbying is probably the only way to force a response. Jamie Oliver's campaign is pressing for more government spending on school meals, and for minimum nutritional standards, which would rule out lots of the cheap and nasty foods currently being dished up to children. Check out Jamie's Feed Me Better campaign website to see how you can get involved.
	Persuade the school to switch to a different outside supplier from the one used by your LEA. This is one way to give your school more say on what goes on to pupils' plates. The drawback is that all commercial contractors cost in a profit to the amount they charge, which might mean there's less cash to spend on better meals.
	Create a stand-alone, independent service for your school. This option gives schools total control over their own catering and lets them use local, organic ingredients and develop varied and nutritious menus. Profits can be ploughed back and used to make the service even better. Taking on provision of meals for a school is a huge responsibility, and needs the wholehearted support of teachers, governors, catering staff, parents and pupils to succeed. The Soil Association's Food for Life action pack has details of how to set up your own catering service along with case histories of schools that have already done this successfully.