Hear Norah's side of the story. What was it really like?

See how school meals have changed from their humble beginnings, through well-funded years of freshly cooked, nutritious meals, to today's burger-and-chips disaster

 

 

 

 

 

1880   A few schools start to provide simple free meals for the very poorest pupils.

1906   Local Education Authorities (LEAs) are allowed to provide free school meals, but take-up is patchy and slow.

1914   The Government provides grants to cover half the cost of meals – but these are cut back almost immediately because of the costs of World War I.

1924   LEAs are permitted to provide children with free milk, but this is not compulsory and many opt out.

1939   Only half of all LEAs are providing free school meals – feeding a total of 160,000 children daily.

1940   National policy brings a nutritionally balanced midday meal in school to all children, providing 40% of daily protein and 33% of daily energy needs. The Government covers 70% of the cost, rising in 1941 to 95%, while families pay 5d (2p) for a meal unless entitled to free dinners.

1944   1.8 million children eat a daily school meal.

1946   The School Milk Act gives one-third of a pint of free milk daily to every pupil under 18.

1947   The Government funds 100% of the cost of school meals.

1950-1957   Price of a meal rises steadily to one shilling (5p) in 1957.

1967   The Government stops funding school meals and passes full financial responsibility for them to the LEAs.

1968   School meals priced at 1s 6d (7.5p). Convenience foods start appearing on menus. Free milk withdrawn from secondary schools.

1969   School meal costs 1s 9d (almost 9p).

1970   Almost 5.5 million children in the UK have a daily school meal.

1971   Price of a meal rises to 12p. Free milk withdrawn for children over 7, by 'milk snatcher' Margaret Thatcher, then Secretary of State for Education.

1975   Price of a meal rises to 15p.

1976   The Government announces plans to chop the bill for school meals by £9 million in 1977-78, with a further cut of £36 million in 1978-79.

1977   The price of a school meal goes up to 25p. Over 60% of children in England and Wales eat school meals.

1978   The Government aims to halve the £380 million cost of meals, by reducing quality and using more convenience foods. The price of a meal goes up to 30p.

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1980   Education Act does away with nutritional standards. LEAs no longer have to provide school meals or sell meals at a fixed price. Cash cafeterias start to appear in secondary schools.

1988   Local Government Act forces LEAs to put their school meals services out to private tender.

1988, 1992   Social Security rules tightened. Each time, thousands of children lose out on a free meal.

1994   Meal budgets extensively cut to fund other areas of education. Contract caterers brought into school kitchens as meals service becomes commercially competitive. Processed, ready-cooked food needing less skilled preparation replaces fresh, raw ingredients.

2000   LEAs no longer responsible for school meals in all secondaries and many primary and special schools. Cash is given direct to schools but, crucially, they are not forced to spend all the money on meals. Unhealthy, cheaper options become widespread.

2001   Nutritional standards reintroduced. Menus must include meat, vegetables, grains, fruit and dairy products, but there is no monitoring system and many meals fall below this standard.

2004   School Meals and Snacks Bill lodged in Scottish Parliament, aims to extend school meal entitlement and regulate nutritional content of meals.

School Meals in Secondary Schools in England report by Food Standards Agency reveals that meals are not healthily balanced, don't meet the guidelines and have too little iron, calcium and energy. Only 25% of school cooks have nutritional training.

Soil Association says school menus are dominated by low-quality, processed foods, packed with fat, sugar and salt. Children are given no guidance on eating healthily.

Government launches Healthy Living Blueprint and pledges to halt the growth in obesity among under-11s by 2010.

Department of Health pilots Food in Schools programme for healthier breakfasts, tuck shops, cookery clubs and water provision, but doesn't cover the all-important lunchtime meal.

Introduction of School Fruit and Veg scheme which entitles all 4-6-year-old children in maintained schools to a free piece of fruit or vegetable each school day.

2005   In some schools, meals are produced at a cost to the contractor of just 36p per day – less than the cost of meals served to prisoners.

A few schools decide to go it alone rather than contracting out. Not an easy decision, as it involves managing the food budget, sourcing produce, negotiating with suppliers, devising menus and training staff.

The Government announces new vocational qualifications for school catering staff and more help for schools and LEAs in drawing up catering contracts to source healthy school meals services.

Healthy eating to be included in Ofsted school inspections from the 2005/2006 academic year.

Spring 2005   Jamie Oliver starts to work with Greenwich Borough Council and dinner-lady Nora Sands to create a borough-wide plan to improve the quality of school meals, all filmed for C4's Jamie's School Dinners.

Jamie's School Dinners and Feed Me Better campaign creates a huge national outcry. Jamie delivers a 300,000 signature petition to No 10 Downing Street.

The government agrees to set new standards for school meals, and commits £280 million for proper ingredients, equipment and training including the setting up of the School Food Trust.

Autumn 2006   Fizzy drinks, sweets, chocolate, and crisps are banned from school lunches. Salt, fried foods and manufactured meat products like sausages and burgers are restricted.

School children are promised two portions of fresh fruit or vegetable per meal.

Jamie Oliver meets Tony Blair during filming of Return to Jamie's School Dinners.

Following that meeting the government pledge a multi-million pound package of measures to tackle child obesity.

These measures include training kitchens for school catering staff, more cookery lessons for children, a fund for kitchen building in schools and healthy ingredients to be subsidised until 2011.