The number of children eating healthy school dinners in England continues to rise

New figures, published by the School Food Trust and LACA, show that an average of 44.1% of children in primary schools and 37.6% of pupils in secondary school opted for school meals in the 2010-11 year, up from 41.4 and 35.8% respectively in the previous year. This means that more than three million children now eat a school meal every day, the number of children taking both paid-for and free school meals in the 2010-11 year increased and the equivalent of almost 590 million healthy school lunches were served up last year. The School Food Trust's chairman, Rob Rees, said: "There's no better review for any restaurant than to see the number of returning customers going up each year – and that's exactly what's happening here, thanks to the hard work of cooks and catering teams, lunchtime supervisors, schools and councils. Research has also found that schools are pledging to continue investing the money in good food at school. Two thirds of councils taking part in the survey (65%) indicated that their catering services would continue to receive School Lunch Grant funding, with fewer than one in five indicating otherwise. The average meal price across all schools was £1.93, a rise of 5p – less than 3% and below the current rate of food inflation - on the previous year. Sandra Russell, LACA Chair, said: "We are pleased to see an increase in both primary and secondary school meal numbers, particularly at a time when parents are having to watch every penny. This continuing increase in uptake reflects the hard work of our members at the front line of the school meals service and is a tribute to their considerable commitment. "The messages about the important contribution school meals can make to a child's learning ability and physical performance are, hopefully, getting through to parents and head teachers. However, we must continue to persuade head teachers about the benefits of adopting a whole school approach to healthy eating. "Whilst the results of the survey indicate a positive trend, we must continue to encourage children and young people to make wise food choices. Going forward, it is absolutely critical that at this time of public sector austerity measures, we do all we can to ensure the now un-ring-fenced School Lunch Grant continues to be channelled towards catering and that school meals remain high quality, nutritious and above all, as affordable as possible for parents."