Guest Post from Jamie Oliver: ''I want to celebrate a workforce of unsung heroes bigger than the Royal Navy and Air Force combined - and I need your help!''

[NicolaDMumsnet]

Seventeen years ago when I first started campaigning, I was shocked to see that there were standards for dog food but not for school food. We’ve come a long way since then. Now we have minimum standards in place, a workforce that’s serving up nearly five million meals every single day and food education on the curriculum, making sure all kids learn the skills they need to set them up for life.

Now I want to show the wonderful people working in school food, food education and the schools they serve, the big love they deserve – and I need your help!

We are launching The Jamie Oliver Good School Food Awards to shine a light on amazing catering teams, beautiful canteens, vibrant allotments, fabulous food educators, holiday programmes that go the extra mile, and campaigners who have made positive change.

There are eight categories in the inaugural 2023 awards, and we’ve got some incredible money-can’t-buy prizes: for a start, our wonderful sponsor Tefal is kitting out the home kitchens of everyone in the winning catering team! The first Golden Spoon Gongs will be officially presented at the end of the academic year in summer 2023 to celebrate all that has been achieved so far, and we’ll be shouting loudly with the help of our amazing media partners – The One Show, The Sun and Heart FM.

An expert panel who really knows about school food will create a shortlist, and an amazing panel of celebrity judges including Mary Berry, Greg James, George Webster, Jessica-Ennis Hill, Big Has, Loyle Carner, Joe Wicks, Alex Jones, Seema Pankhania and Jimi Famurewa will pick the winners.

Do you know a person or school (nursery, pre-school, primary or secondary) that deserves one of our awards? Or do you just know that you deserve one yourself?!

Nominate and apply NOW. We can’t wait to see your nominations!

Big love,
Jamie O x

Twitter: @jamieoliver
Website: https://www.jamieoliver.com/

[Iam4eels]

Our school doesn't even have a kitchen and no money to build one.

[Donotgogentle]

Great idea.

[Bignanny30]

If you think that there are standards in school meals then I can point you in the direction of several schools that Don’t seem to have received to memo.

[Andthatstheend]

Lovely idea!!!!

[kateandme]

Will it be televised?

[Notparticularlyslappable]

Maybe we can stand outside and clap them?

[Targetted]

I'm going to nominate our catering team. They provide a home cooked lunch in a homely environment for our very challenging students who mostly don't have that experience at home and they do it with a smile, challenging the behaviour in an appropriate way with firmness and care.

Plus the meals are excellent and I rarely cook at home because I'm so well fed at school.

[SylvieB74]

When I hear about the campaign for ‘better’ school meals, it makes me shiver and thank god it didn’t happen years ago.
I grew up with an alcoholic mentally unstable mother who didn’t ‘do food’, when things got really bad the year before she left, there was absolutely nothing to eat at home, she almost made an effort to make sure we didn’t eat.
There were times when I didn’t eat between dinner time at school on the Friday and then dinner time at school on the Monday. There was big thick pastry pies, chips, veg, Irish stew, mashed potatoes, cake and custard. My (free) school meals were an absolute god send to me at the time. If I’d had to survive on the pathetic offerings my kids have had at school it would have been a different story. Soggy wraps, tiny baked potatoes, cheese whirls (yeah very healthy) My 8 year old is always offered a ‘cookie’ or cake after his dinner on the rare occasion he has school
meals, I’m not particularly strict with healthy eating but this is ridiculous!

[AdoraBell]

The school my DDs went to had space for about 60 to sit for lunch, HT actually said they sit wherever they can while pointing to the outside spaces.