Tory leader David Cameron may have urged us to "hug a hoodie", but it seems that this touchy-feely approach could in fact be the missing piece in the school-dinner uptake puzzle.
While Jamie Oliver has been making headlines once again, slamming the Government for a lack of investment in the school meals system, and caterers themselves are still kicking up a fuss about the new nutrition-based standards, the bods at Surrey school meals may have a simpler, more cost-effective solution to the problem.
A recent pilot at ten schools in Surrey saw new starters at primary level offered free school meals for a week to entice more children to use the service.
But, put simply the uplift from this initative was disappointing.
However, before schools minister Ed Balls thinks he's found the perfect reason to dismiss the Food for Life Partnership's calls for free school meals for all, an insider at Surrey has a quite different take on why the caterers literally couldn't give the stuff away.
It's because the children are missing their mummies. Aaaahhhhhh!
"My own daughter was the same when she went to school, which was of course the first time she'd been away from home. She found it all so traumatic at first that she simply wouldn't eat very much at all for the first few weeks."
So, a hug as well as healthy grub to boost school dinner uptake. Bet Jamie Oliver never envisioned that one.
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