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History |
Like many of you I found "Jamies school dinners" compelling TV viewing. By week 3 of the series I realised that now was the time to stop moaning and start acting. I had long been concerned about the issue of school food in Merton and had repeatedly raised it with staff and governors. Encouraged by my husband, I decided to see if we could organise a public meeting for parents to see if other people were also concerned and if so to set up a parents action group. I wrote to every headteacher in the borough asking if they could pass on details of this meeting to other interested parents. By the time the final programme was transmitted my phone did not stop ringing! We had a very positive meeting with over 120 people from 30 of the boroughs 49 schools. From that meeting we set up a strong steering committee, composed of committed parents, hardworking governors and an independent nutritionist. I have been incredibly impressed by the skills, expertise and generous offers of time and help we have subsequently received. The overwhelming feeling amongst the committee is that we do not want to fight either with LEA, Council or private caterers. Rather we want to be part of the process to drive up the nutritional quality of the food. However until the powers that be accept that there is a problem with some aspects of school meals we feel compelled to point out the very worst aspects of this provision. To sum up my position is this :
1)We give children what we know they need not what they think they want.
2)We have a moral obligation to the children of this borough to improve the
quality of the meals.
3)The best way we can do this is to make sure that there is an active group
of Merton parents for better food in school in every school, involving other
parents, staff, health professionals and caterers in this crucial debate.
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www.MertonParents.co.uk