Be Bright, Eat Right campaign a success

The number of meals served up in local primary schools has increased by 2%. And further incentives are in store to persuade youngsters of the value of a good, wholesome and tasty lunch eaten with their schoolmates. The Be Bright, Eat Right campaign was launched in April to convince children and their pa ents of the benefits of school dinners as a healthy alternative to packed lunches. Moray Council has been actively promoting the Scottish Government's Hungry for Success initiative to develop healthy eating habits in children. The Be Bright, Eat Right campaign has attempted to give the image of the traditional school dinner something of a facelift and restore it to its position as the number one lunch choice for pupils. Since its launch more than half of Moray primary schools have seen a rise in the uptake of school lunches. Among the larger primaries, Cullen has seen the biggest increase – 7.2% - with Tomintoul heading the medium schools league tables with a 10.8% rise. Of the smaller schools, Inveravon has seen a 21.2% increase. Moray Council operational support officer Susan May said: "We are absolutely delighted at the results and that overall more children are opting for school meals. "A key ingredient of the campaign has been how we promote school dinners within our 48 primary schools and to give school dinners a refreshing new image." As an added incentive, throughout the school term pupils will be able to collect specially designed Be Bright Buddies which can be used as a bookmark. All children have to do is take a school meal on a set date to qualify for a Be Bright Buddy lucky dip.