It is lunchtime at Richard Challoner school, a Catholic comprehensive for boys in New Malden, south-west London. The familiar odor of school lunch is beginning to waft around the corridors.In the canteen
, there is a minute of calm as the cooking area group make last preparations before year 7 descend– a mass of talking, chuckling boys, with knapsacks swinging and empty stomaches grumbling.It all takes place
so fast. One minute there’s an orderly queue, the next they have actually made their choice, finished payment and are taking a seat– huddled with buddies– to consume. The food disappears and they’re off.In comes the next sitting. Larger young boys with bigger hungers. Wednesday’s menu consists of a main meal of sausages (Cumberland pork and Glamorgan vegetarian) plus mashed potato, with caramelised onion gravy, roasted carrots and broccoli.There’s also a pasta dish, chicken meatballs in tomato sauce and coat potato with baked beans. The “grab and go”offer consists of sausage baps, pepperoni panini, cheeseburger and sweet chilli hash brown. There’s no deep fried food, no chocolate bars, crisps or fizzy beverages. There is nevertheless a well-stocked salad bar.Under federal government strategies, schools will no longer have the ability to offer’grab and
go’choices like sausage rolls and pizza every day and deep fried food will be prohibited totally. Photo: Linda Nylind/The Guardian Dessert stays on the menu though– there’s a luscious screen of chocolate mousse, banoffee pie,
caramelised banana cake, brownie, marshmallow sponge, summer season berry flapjack, iced rolls, cupcakes and double chocolate muffins. Would Henry Dimbleby and Bridget Phillipson authorize? Possibly not, but they look delicious.Earlier today, the education secretary revealed strategies to overhaul school food requirements, as part of efforts to lower rates of youth obesity
. Welcomed by chefs and advocates including Jamie Oliver, Emma Thompson and Dimbleby, a former government food tsar, the strategy is to eliminate food and beverages high in fat, salt and sugar and change them with more fruit, veggies and wholegrains.Schools will no longer be able to use”grab and go”choices like sausage rolls and pizza every day and deep fried food will be prohibited totally. Sugar-laden cakes and puddings are
likewise under threat, with fruit served for the majority of the week instead.Headmaster Sean Maher bristles somewhat as I lay out a few of the federal government’s proposals, now based on a nine-week consultation.”I find that so nanny state-ish. Naturally it’s our task to provide our students with as healthy and
nutritious a deal as we can. However to say to a 12-year-old, ‘I’m not going to let you have a chocolate brownie after your lovely primary meal’… I imply, come on!”You put healthy food in front of them, but you’ve also got to let them have play time. Undoubtedly they are enabled a little treat as well? And these guys, “– he gestures to the cooking area personnel–“have actually also got to make money. You’ve got to be reasonable about it.” Until just recently the school had actually been doing its own catering, however expenses went up and the school headed out to tender. Now they use a catering company called Accent. The head chef Daniel Roche likes his task, he starts at 6am every early morning, but says it’s tough making the amounts add up.Richard Challoner headteacher Sean Maher and chef Daniel Roche. Photo: Linda Nylind/The Guardian “I like the cooking area,”he says.” I love the banter of the personnel and– ideally– seeing [the students’] happy faces. However if I was to stop whatever tomorrow and only put healthy food out, we would be maimed as a company.”The year sevens, in their first year at Richard Challoner, are still enjoying the choice the secondary school’s canteen gives them. Daniel, 12, is nibbling pizza, followed by flapjack.”I would not say they’re the healthiest, but they are actually good. “What if pizza vanished off the menu as part of the DfE cull?”No pizza?”Daniel reflects for a moment as he continues to munch through his slice.”I would be a bit dissatisfied … however there are lots of other good things.”Theo, likewise 12, sitting nearby, has selected sausage and mash with additional salad, followed by a chocolate cup cake. He feels the government cutting back on sugar and cake is “a bit unjust. A bit extreme “. However, he adds,”I like the fact they are trying to make it healthier.”Trivin, 11, is eating a hamburger, together with Ollie, 12, who has a ham sandwich on white bread, with a cup cake.”I like the cheeseburgers a lot,” states Trivin, between mouthfuls.”They’re my favourite.”He also likes cucumber and sweetcorn. Carrots are too tough and tomatoes too squishy. Catsup is delicious.Trivin believes his school “would declare bankruptcy”if they dropped cheeseburgers, cakes and pizza. “The entire location! I believe people would snap about that.” Fraser, 16, brandishing two pieces of pizza, would be” a bit gutted” if it went off the menu. He doesn’t like brussels sprouts, he’s not big on broccoli, however he does like a sausage roll.Ethan, 15, states the food at school is yummy and healthy but the portion sizes are too little. He believes they need to be allowed a sweet reward every day.”The sugars give you short-term energy to make it through the remainder of the day.”” It’s great food,”
states Romelle, 16.”It’s healthy food. It meets the needs. “He would like more vegetarian alternatives, but he believes eliminating dessert would make the meals dull.”Sweet deals with bring a little excitement– specifically in the lower years. It has to do with keeping a balance. “