Thousands of pupils and their guests will be tucking in to what might be the country’s largest-ever school dinner on 7th November.
As part of Lancashire County Council’s celebration of National School Meals Week (4-8th November), up to 73,000 primary school children will be sitting down to roast chicken and all the trimmings or pasta and salad, followed by a homemade raspberry bun or fruit and yogurt.
And they are inviting their local county councillors along to see for themselves how delicious school lunches are.
Not only will children and their guests be eating together, but on that day the special menu will be served in the county council’s care homes and in its Reflections cafeteria at County Hall in Preston.
The latest ‘satisfaction survey’ for school meals shows that they’re
going down well. Nearly 90% of heads at primary and secondary schools
say there is a high level of satisfaction with the service provided and
75% would unhesitatingly recommend the service.
County Councillor Matthew Tomlinson, cabinet member for children, young people and schools, said: “School lunches are great these days, healthy and tasty, and planned to comply with nutritional standards.
“I’ve got a busy schedule that week but I’ll make sure I don’t miss out on my school lunch!
“The week deserves to be a great success and I’m sure it will be. Our school meals and kitchen staff work so hard to produce nutritionally balanced meals that children will love.
“In particular, I hope that children who don’t usually take school dinners will enjoy their lunch so much that they join the thousands who do. Increased uptake means more children are getting a great meal at lunchtime.”
November also sees a new menu for primary schools, based on the theme of homemade ‘old favourites’. The main dishes featured will include roast beef and yorkshire pudding, meat and potato pie, spaghetti bolognese and turkey korma.
Kitchen staff are having ‘master class’ sessions run by the workforce development team to refresh their skills.
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