School dinners show kids table manners

With the announcement this week from Education, Secretary Michael Gove, of his "intention" to roll out free school meals to all primary school children, I can see that he is certainly keen to ensure that he keeps on rocking the battered education boat.

I stress the word "intention" as with funding levels across the board still very tight, it might be an admirable aspiration but it is unlikely, at an annual predicted cost of £900 million, to come to fruition.

I am also aware that like many other announcements, the timing is very select, with schools now on the verge of breaking up for the summer, and teachers across the country breathing a huge sigh of relief at the thought of some respite from what is an increasingly demanding job.

In my very biased view, I think that the provision of free school meals would be a great idea, for a number of reasons. As a 'free school meal' child myself, which no matter how hard you try to avoid it, still carries something of a stigma, I can see only benefits from going down this route.

Administratively it would alleviate mountains of unnecessary paperwork; and the time, money and effort spent on the plethora of nanny politicking leaflets and initiatives demanding that we all eat our 'five a day'. It would ensure that all young children do at least get to eat one decent meal a day; and I can only begin to imagine the respite for harassed mums across the nation as they enjoy those extra few minutes in bed without the chore of producing packed lunches. It would also put an end to the nonsense of inspecting the contents of lunch boxes to make sure there are no hidden, unhealthy treats.

This is a great opportunity to start to turn around the eating habits and overall health of our youngsters; provided that someone can get round the 'I won't eat meat, I hate fish, I've got an allergy' brigade. Most schools no longer have their own school kitchens, so will the lunchtime provision be reduced to a 'healthy' salad sandwich made from gluten free bread, using a spread of some kind because the merest smear of butter would be far too dangerous?

There are many other hurdles to be overcome. You can be sure that schools will have to offer a choice (why?), which will result in a lot of waste. Provided the H&S lot are kept well out of it, my suggestion would be for each school to keep pigs, chickens and other small animals that can be fed on the scraps. This could also provide the opportunity to revive the long lost skill of cooking, while they learn that chicken does not come in nice neat vacuum packs, and that sausages do come from pigs. I can even envisage the kids themselves cooking their own lunch, now there's a revolutionary idea.

My own memories of school meals are not happy ones. I was required to sit there for the whole lunchtime pushing cold custard, semolina or tapioca around the bowl, and to this day I can't stand leeks. However, it did teach me a very important lifelong skill, to be able to sit at a table and, in any social situation, eat whatever is put in front of me without any fuss.

If I thought for one moment this was possible, even though I don't have children, I'd be willing to help foot the bill. I'd like to be proved wrong, but it'll never happen, and more's the pity.