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News in-depth: 89% of parents satisfied with school meals
9 Nov 2011

New research has indicated that as many as 89 per cent of parents are satisfied with the meals their children are receiving from school catering services.

Carried out by LACA - formerly the Local Authority Caterers Association - and ParentPay the study suggested that better meals and new initiatives such as themed food weeks are helping mums and dads to realise the importance of hot school dinners to their children's development.

It was also found that parents are now much more interested in health and nutrition, with 96 per cent wanting their offspring to learn how to cook in the classroom and 80 per cent keen to check what they are having for lunch.

Lynda Mitchell, chair of LACA, said: "School caterers want to work in partnership with parents and their children's schools ... to ensure we can continue to provide good, nutritious food from which children and young people can benefit, both academically and physically."

Cashless catering could make managing school meals easier for headteachers still using dinner money, plus it could also contribute to making parents even happier.

Some 81 per cent of the survey respondents reported being keen to pay for children's midday meals online, perhaps by topping up a card with eMoney.

Cashless catering may also benefit youngsters entitled to free school meals, with the LACA and ParentPay survey noting that 15 per cent of families that could make use of them are not currently claiming the food.

If all the children in a school use contactless smart cards to pay for their lunch, it will remove the stigma of some children producing money while others have to announce their names and the fact that they have free meals.

Today (November 8th 2011), school pupils all over the UK will be enjoying food from around the world as part of National School Meals Week.

This follows a report from the Southern Daily Echo, which stated that more than one in three pupils in Hampshire now has a hot meal at school, the highest proportion ever.