Wakefield schools join Twitter to describe what they eat

Wakefield Council's Kingswood Catering are trialling Twitter as an easy way to keep in touch with parents. Wakefield is only the second local authority to use Twitter to publish its primary school menu, following a trial currently being run by Somerset County Council. Every morning parents who are subscribed to Twitter/WakefieldLunch will receive a tweet showing what's on the primary menu. Any parent, grandparent or carer can sign up, whether their child currently eats school meals or not, and keep up to date with the range of seasonal food on offer. The feed will also be used to update parents on special theme days, taster sessions and how to apply for free school meals. Cathy Courts, from Netmums, praised the trial: "Our recent school food survey found that one of the biggest concerns that parents have around school meals is that they don't know what their child is eating. Getting a menu every day will put parents in much better control of their child's diet. This is a clever use of a new technology, which parents are increasingly using not just to socialise, but to get important information too." Chris Wainwright, from the School Food Trust said: "Parents have told us that they want more information about what their children are eating. Sometimes the message doesn't get home, and it can be difficult to get children to talk about what they had for lunch. With this trial, parents will be able to ask what children thought about the food on offer, and which lunch option they chose. It gives parents the information they need to start discussions about healthy food." Using Twitter as a source of local information is becoming increasingly popular. According to UKLocalCouncils, 116 councils are currently on Twitter, giving people the chance to get regular updates on planning, local initiatives, voting, utilities and a wide range of local issues. The UK Government also published a 20-page guide to Twitter on the Cabinet Office website at the end of July, urging MPs and civil servants to embrace the micro-blogging service.