Oftsted have just released two reports in reaction to concerns about school meals (Crown Copyright 2006): Healthy eating in schools,
a small scale survey into the quality of school meals.
A second report, Food technology in secondary schools,
confirms that pupils spend too little time learning how to cook
nutritious meals and too much time on written work. It also highlights
confusion about whether food should be taught as a life skill or as a
medium for teaching design and technology. {}
Healthy eating in schools,
a small scale survey into the quality of school meals, has been
published by Ofsted. Inspectors found that the standard of school
meals had slowly improved in a minority of the schools inspected for
this survey. In addition, teaching about healthier eating was often
good in primary and secondary schools.
The rate of
improvement in the standard of school meals was found to be more rapid
in primary schools compared to secondary schools. In the primary
schools visited, pupils were developing and using skills to make
informed choices about healthier meals. By comparison, secondary
school students did not always apply their knowledge when making their
choices at lunchtimes.
A second report, Food technology in secondary schools,
confirms that pupils spend too little time learning how to cook
nutritious meals and too much time on written work. It also highlights
confusion about whether food should be taught as a life skill or as a
medium for teaching design and technology.
The reports coincide with an
opinion poll conducted on behalf of Ofsted where more than 200 parents
were asked for their views on school meals. More than half of parents
surveyed, whose children eat school meals, believed that the quality of
these meals was good or better. However, this figure drops to 19 per
cent when the same parents were asked for their opinion of the quality
of school meals nationally.