Survey shows popularity of school meals

Most parents are happy with the quality and variety of food served in Shropshire’s schools, and feel school lunches offer good value for money, a survey carried out by Shropshire County Council’s school meals service has found.

According to the survey, 79 per cent of parents think the quality of school meals in the county is good or very good, and 67 per cent praised the choice of food on offer.

In addition, more than 60 per cent of respondents felt that school meals offer good or very good value money.

The study aimed to find out what parents thought of school meals in the county’s schools, and why children eat, or don’t eat, them.

Janet Norton, General Manager with Shropshire County Council’s school meals service, said: “Over the past four years we have made big improvements to the quality, variety and nutritional value of school meals in Shropshire, and we are confident that our schools now serve some of the best food in the country.

“However, we want to encourage more children to eat lunch at school, and to do this we wanted to know what parents and children think of the food that is served, why they eat or don’t eat it, and what would persuade them to eat school meals, or eat them more often.

“The results of this survey, and the comments made by those who completed it, will help us to identify areas in which we could improve the service we offer to children and parents,”

All replies were entered into a free prize draw for the chance to win a number of family prizes, including a family ticket to a Shrewsbury Town football match, family tickets to Alton Towers, family weekend membership to Albrighton Hall Hotel Leisure Club, membership of Relish - the Heart of England Fine Foods club, and a guest pass for two to Welti Sports Club.

9 November 2007