On the competition day, which was held in October, a special dinosaur themed menu was served across primary schools in the borough, including a mash potato volcano with baked bean lava and a T-Rex biscuit.
Rush Green were the overall winners for achieving the highest increase in school meals uptake and were rewarded at the end of November with a visit to the school from a giant dinosaur and comedy explorer, Jon Voyage.
Leroy Cyrus, operations manager for Barking and Dagenham Catering Services, said: “It was wonderful to see each of our cooks work so hard to make the Dinosaur Day a success in their school. They demonstrated creativity and imagination in abundance.”
On the Day of the Dinosaur competition, school meal uptake went up by an average of over 10% across all schools, which means an additional 2800 young people chose to enjoy a healthy school lunch.