Read the latest school food blogs, including Irene Carroll, Former Chair of LACA as she talks about healthy school lunches and the build up to the week.

It is Get Remembering Day and the NSMW Tour has been to Alma Park Primary School in Manchester.  This is the last day of the NSMW Tour but it is possibly the most important as we ask the young people to remember and think about people that have been killed or injured in war.  School meals for all came into effect in the Education Act of 1944.  This was at a time in the war when many young people were malnourished and so their school meal was a vital part of the school day.

As we move on nearly seventy years we find school meals still at the heart of the school day but this time fighting to reduce obesity and encourage pupils to have a healthy and nutritious school meal so they can learn more in afternoon lessons.

At Alma Park School we had a whole school assembly where Arnold Fewell used the NSMW presentation for a talk to the children.  He showed them the video of Simon Weston that was recorded in Cardiff and gave out spot prizes of NSMW mugs for those pupils that got the questions right.  After the assembly it was play time and this gave Philippa James the chance to set up her presentation about the 1940's

A cameraman from Lancashire Life arrived to take pictures and this included all the teachers that had dressed up for the day. We had land girls, a pilot, doctor, warden and Mrs Mopp the cleaner.  Everyone had really entered into the spirit of the day.  One child had dressed up as an evacuee with a label showing who she was and where she came from.

When the children returned it was time for the two minutes silence.  This was perfectly observed by the teachers and pupils alike.  Immediately afterwards about sixty pupils from class three listened to Philippa who showed items like a child's gas mask, a ration book and all the foods that were available during the war.  The pupils had lots of questions but were fascinated to see how small the portion of food a child had to eat was.  Finally Philipa demonstrated how to make drop scones and every child had the chance to try.

The final part of the day was provided by Manchester Fayre. They had decorated the dining room with bunting, Union Jacks, balloons and brightly coloured table cloths.  Music from the 40's was playing and there were jugs of juice, squash, milk and water on the tables.  On the menu was lamb stew and Woolton Pie, this is one of the dishes featured in the NSMW recipe book.  The dining room was set up as a street party as if everyone was celebrating the end of the war. 

Well that was the week that was and NSMW 2011 has come to an end.  It has been a fantastic week with more schools, authorities and foodservice contractors taking part, greater media coverage and hopefully more people staying for a healthy and nutritious school meal.  So our final comment must be a big thank you to all the people that worked so hard to make this year certainly the biggest and possibly the best ever National School Meals Week.

Three days down and two to go as we arrive at the award winning Easingwold School to learn more about 5-a-day and the work of Mary's Meals.  Bob Davies is the school catering manager at the school, he works for North Yorkshire County Caterers and has just been named as Secondary School Caterer of the Year by EDUcatering Magazine.  His award was represented at a school assembly by Alan Dewberry, proprietor and publisher of EDUcatering Magazine.

There were two assemblies and during these James Kelly from Mary's Meals talked about their work.  The charity provides a daily meal at school to chronically poor children that are attracted to the classroom where, through education, they can escape poverty and gain a better future for themselves and their community.  Tony Begley, Education Co-ordinator for Mary's Meals, said, "During NSMW we hope to give our young people an insight into the lives of the children fed by Mary's Meals, so that they can learn how fortunate they are to have access to good food, particularly, fresh fruit and vegetables.  This is so important for a healthy and balanced diet."

There was a lot going on at the school today.  After the assembly the students tried the nutritious porridge that Mary's Meals feeds to more than half a million children in sixteen countries around the world every day, including Malawi, Haiti and Liberia.  Mary's Meals has recently been delivering 200 tonnes of emergency food aid to famine hit Somalia as part of its response to the East Africa crisis.

Did you know that in 2009 the UK spent £799 million on ice cream?  This would feed the equivalent of 129 million children for a year

During the morning Bob Davies had set up a fantastic display of fresh fruit and vegetables to promote the importance of having your five-a-day.  And at lunchtime Bob had organised buckets on each of the tills so that students could drop in any change that they were happy to donate Mary's Meals.  Enough money was raised in this way to feed about 900 children.  On top of this the school is making a donation for each meal served today.

Mrs Carey Chidwick, Head Teacher, said, "I was delighted to welcome the NSMW Tour to Easingwold School as it gave our students a great opportunity for them to listen to someone working closely with issues facing other parts of the world.  We are fortunate that we are able to provide good nutritious meals and we focus on driving the messages about healthy eating and giving our students the very best start in life."

During the morning Nicola Howard, Business Development Manager from ParentPay, presented a cheque for £688 to James Kelly from Mary's Meals.  This was 15p for every parent that had paid online using ParentPay on Monday for a school meal in North Yorkshire County Council.

So now it is four down and one day to go.  It is an early start on Friday morning as The NSMW Tour sets off for Manchester.

Time is passing so quickly and we are already half way through.  Today we are calling in to Cheswick Green School for a day of learning about tasting food and preparing a healthy salad.  LACA is delighted to be working with the Academy of Culinary Arts and their Chef's Adopt-a-School Scheme.

This is a fantastic scheme where a celebrity chef goes into a school and teaches young people how to taste food using eyes, nose and the other senses.  Then they teach the pupils how to prepare a meal while paying particular attention to using knives safely.  The pupils learnt about the bridge and claw method of using knives and were then supervised as they put the lesson into a practical situation.

Lynda Mitchell, National Chair of LACA, said, "I think it is vital that everyone learns more about food during their school days and this is why today is so important.  The greater love of food we can create now the more likely children will adopt a healthy lifestyle in years to come.  Another benefit of this scheme is that it encourages the pupils to share their experience with parents."

Idris Caldora, the celebrity chef from the Academy of Culinary Arts in the Midlands area, added, "I have visited dozens of schools recently and it is fascinating to see the change of attitudes in young people during the sessions.  Today the morning is split into two parts with the second session being a practical one to create a salad.  This will be a Brazillian salad and it is then going to be served to all the pupils in the school at lunch time."

On the website at www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk you can see another session from the Academy featuring James Holden carrying out a similar event at Cheadle Hulme High School.  Why not have a look and if you can't use the materials during NSMW you can save them for another day?  Here the students learn how to cook a vegetable Biryani.

If you want more information about the Chef's Adopt-a-school scheme then please visit www.academyofculinaryarts.org.uk.

So after two sessions about getting creative with food and a delicious healthy lunch provided by Solihull Catering Services the NSMW Tour is off to Easingwold School in North Yorkshire.  We will meet Bob Davies who has just been named Secondary School Caterer of the Year by EDUcatering magazine.