School Food Matters

School Food Matters was founded in 2007 by parent Stephanie Wood, inspired by environ - mentalist Zac Goldsmith, now Conservative MP for Richmond Park. At the time the campaign was looking specifically at the school meal service for primary schools in the London Borough of Richmond. Our quest was to actively engage parents and head teachers about t... he quality and delivery of school meals and to help provide a better model to the Local Authority. We believed that Richmond primary schools could be serving fresher, more sustainable food. We also believed that children should have freshly prepared food cooked on site and a more enjoyable dining experience. We wanted to find out how many head teachers and parents felt the same and what changes they would like to make. We then set about a lengthy series of surveys and telephone calls with all the schools in Richmond and within the London Borough of Kingston who were experiencing similar challenges. 65% of Richmond schools and 55% of Kingston schools responded in support of our goals. The official launch of the campaign took place in Richmond Theatre in May 2008 and included a list of high profile speakers. Chaired by Jonathan Dimbleby, the panel included Jeanette Orrey (the "dinner lady" who started the school meal revolution in Nottinghamshire), Prue Leith (Chair of the School Food Trust), Chris Collins (Blue Peter Gardener) and Jackie Schneider (Merton Parents for Better Food in Schools).Read More