St Helens children get ready to celebrate National School Meals week

Lunchtime dishes served at schools across St Helens have come a long way since spam fritters and lumpy mash served with an ice cream scoop!

Everyone has fond memories of school dinners and the dinner ladies who would serve you every day in the canteen and this week, at schools throughout the borough, children will be celebrating National School Meals week.

It’s a whole week dedicated to the canteen food that keeps children well fed at lunchtime while they’re at school.

School dinners are now tasty, nutritious and carefully planned each day by hardworking kitchen staff to appeal to young appetites and hungry tummies.

Youngsters can enjoy meals that are prepared fresh each day with mouth-watering options like sweet and sour chicken and rice, spaghetti bolognaise with garlic bread and roast dinner with all the trimmings on the menu.

They’re prepared by dedicated kitchen and canteen staff across primary schools in St Helens, which provides 7,000 meals every day and millions of meals every year.

The menus run on a three-week cycle and there is always freshly baked bread, seasonal vegetables and salad followed by fresh fruit and organic yogurt available.

They’re a real hit with hungry children taking a break from the classroom with youngsters in Early Years and Key Stage One entitled to free school meals every day.

They even have themed days throughout the year to enable children to try cuisines from around the world or celebrate special events like World Book Day and Remembrance Sunday.

National school meals week, which runs between November 11 and November 15, is an opportunity for school caterers to shout about the fantastic work they do every day of the school year.

It celebrates the tireless efforts of school kitchen and canteen staff who continue to serve up great tasting, nutritious food to school children despite increasing pressures amid the cost-of-living crisis.

Children at schools across St Helens can look forward to good mood food on Monday with beefy bolognaise and pasta power bolognaise on Monday, the incredible burger for superhero lunch on Tuesday and the feel good great British lunch on Wednesday, which is roast chicken, new potatoes, carrot and swede and gravy.

Thursday is ‘move it for a better mind day’ with paninis and pizza on the menu and fish fingers and vegan sausage rolls featuring on Friday, which is ‘be kind day’.

The lunchtime menu for National School Meals week 2024 (Image: supplied)

To celebrate national school meals week, we spoke to Andrew Ferguson, who is head of traded services, fleet and stores services for St Helens Council, and his role covers 55 primary schools and five secondary schools.

He said: “There’s a huge array of choice now that hasn’t been there in the past and with the older children we allow them to have their say about what they’d like to see on the menu.

“We change the menus twice a year so there’s a summer menu and a winter menu.

“Popular dishes include chicken curry and rice, roast dinner and fish and chip Friday.

“School dinners are ever-changing and are influenced by different countries and cultures.

“Children are encouraged to try new things and we have one themed day each month that’s tied in with national initiatives or a school’s curriculum.

“These help to capture the imagination and we always have positive feedback from the children.”

The school dinner menus in St Helens’ primary schools have a choice of three main options per day plus dessert and all pupils have access to a salad trolley containing a selection of salad items, fresh fruit and bread and other additional items like pasta or couscous.

Staff try to help pupils understand the different food groups and encourage them to try new foods as way of maintaining a balanced diet.

Children are encouraged to:

Eat plenty of fibre-rich starchy foods such as bread, pasta, potatoes, rice and cereals, which provide energy as well as vitamins and minerals.

Try to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables each day. 

Eat and drink milk and dairy products as these are an important source of calcium, which is needed for bone development.

Eat moderate amounts of protein such as fish, chicken and alternative sources including beans and pulses. There has been a tendency to eat larger amounts of protein-rich foods in relation to other food groups, which is largely unnecessary.

Eat less fat, especially saturates, the type found in fatty meats, hard cheese, butter, cakes, pastries, biscuits and fried foods such as chips.

Choose reduced fat versions where possible and eat sugar less often. To reduce the risk of tooth decay keep sweet foods to mealtimes only. Always drink plenty of water.

Andrew said: “We cater for everyone – all dietary requirements – and we have 350 children with allergies across all our schools.

“A school dinner now costs £2.95 and can sometimes be a child’s only opportunity for a hot meal each day.

“Eating with friends is a great social time for children and provides them with the chance to take a break from the classroom and have something to eat.

“I remember the catering teams from my own childhood – there was always someone there to talk to with a smile on their face.”

The new winter menu will launch at the end of November and children can look forward to a roast chicken dinner each Wednesday as well as beef chilli, southern style chicken burgers and homemade curry.

The new winter menu, which will be rolled out in schools later this month (Image: supplied)

Deborah Harrison, primary school production and commercial cook at St Helens Council, is based at the Town Hall and makes school dinners for four schools in the borough that don’t have a kitchen.

These meals are then delivered to each school in time for the midday break.

Deborah, who started as a kitchen assistant before becoming a cook at Garswood Primary School and then moving into her current role eight years ago, said: “Children love tomato pasta and spaghetti bolognaise, chicken curry with naan bread and fish Fridays.

“Things have changed so much since I was at school – my favourite meal used to be steak pie and mash followed by some kind of sponge pudding with pink or green custard.

“We don’t have any additives in the food today – 75 per cent of all food is prepared fresh each day.

“School dinners are about making sure children are well fed and ready for an afternoon of learning.

“They’re all encouraged to try new things and the themed days help promote different dishes.”

At the end of October, St Helens Council was again awarded the Bronze Food for Life accreditation, assessed independently by the Soil Association.

This ensures at least 75 per cent of the school dinners menu is freshly prepared on site, animal welfare is ensured through farm assured accreditation and fish is sustainably sourced as well as no GM (genetically modified) ingredients or additives are present on the menus.