PARENTS believe that their children should not be allowed to leave school at lunchtime to buy unhealthy junk food from take-aways and shops.
• Parents are in favour of keeping children in school grounds at lunch hours amid concerns over junk food and take-aways
• Less than half of Scottish school children are eating school meals, according to a survey
A study of 12,000 parents across the UK has found that the majority want secondary school children up to the age of 16 to be kept within the school gates during the day.
The survey by the Local Authority Catering Association (Laca) and online payment company Parent Pay also found that despite government regulations on the content of school meals, parents are not convinced that they are healthy enough.
The vast majority of parents – 92 per cent – have called for independent body to monitor schools to ensure they are meeting healthy-eating regulations.
Anne Bull, chairwoman of Laca, said the number of parents in favour of keeping secondary pupils in school was a “highly persuasive factor for head teachers to make changes to school policy”.
She added: “Whilst we cannot prevent students buying from takeaways and shops, we should all be working together to help encourage young people to use the school food services more during the time they are at school.”
The Scottish Government published new nutritional requirements for food and drink in schools in 2007. The strict criteria says schools must offer at least two types of vegetables and two types of fruit every day. Fizzy drinks, sweets and crisps were banned.
However, government figures this summer showed that less than half of Scottish school children are eating school meals.
According to the new research, although nearly three-quarters of parents put the quality of the food as the most important criteria when buying a school meal, 57 per cent do not know whether their children’s school meals are meeting health standards.
TV chef Jamie Oliver, who led a campaign to improve school meals, said: “It’s blatantly clear from the outcome of the Laca/ParentPay survey – which is a direct representation of what busy parents in this day and age actually think – what a humongous impact health has on our lives.”
Scotland’s school dinners came under scrutiny earlier this year when nine-year-old blogger Martha Payne from Loch- gilphead, Argyll, was banned from taking pictures of her meals and rating them for factors including appeal and healthiness. The council backed down when the blog attracted international media attention.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said last night: “All state schools receive health and nutrition inspections to ensure they are complying with the nutritional requirements. These standards place health promotion at the heart of schools’ activities.”