We have been working with the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership over the last year to ask parents in the city what they think about school meals. The B & H City Council is now working on its new tender for the Primary School Meals contract and we wanted to gather together the views of parents to ensure the school meals team can take these into full account.

Please help us by completing this short survey about your family's experience of the school lunchtime experience and you will be entered into a prize draw to win £50 of shopping vouchers!

Complete our survey now which will be open over the summer holidays, feedback will be available on the website in September.

The school meals team thought it might be helpful for you to have some facts about schools dinners provided in Brighton & Hove Primary schools:

Menus served to children within the City of Brighton & Hove are developed in partnership with the contractor responsible for the provision of school meals in Primary & Special Schools across the city. We aim to create menus that appeal to children and encourage them to widen their palate. Therefore menus served reflect popular children's choices (based on feedback directly from pupils in dining rooms or student council meetings) and adhere to current nutritional guidelines.

The nutritional guidelines set by the government ensure that the meals served to children encourage healthy eating and support curriculum learning for healthy lifestyles. With this in mind we would be pleased to incorporate feedback from parents about menu choices.

Key nutritional targets 

ü      We are required to serve red meat (pork, beef or lamb) twice a week

ü      We must serve fish once a week

ü      We must serve oily fish at least once every three weeks

ü      Not less than 2 portions of fruit and vegetables should be served daily

ü      Starchy food cooked in fat or oil must not be provided on more than three days in a single week across the school day.

ü      Bread with no added fat or oil must be provided on a daily basis

ü      There should be easy access at all times to free, fresh drinking water

ü      Only one meat product (manufactured or homemade) from each of the four separate groups can be provided across the school day within a fortnight.

Group 1: Burger, hamburger, chopped meat, corned meat.

Group 2: Sausage, sausage meat, link, chipolata, luncheon meat.

Group 3: Individual meat pie, meat pudding, Melton Mowbray pie, game pie, Scottish (or Scotch) pie, pasty, pastie, bridie, sausage rolls

Group 4: Any other shaped or coated meat product e.g. nuggets, goujons, coated (e.g. breaded or battered) chicken breast, meat balls, haggis, kofta kebabs.

For more information go to http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1124722

You can also email the school meals team on schoolmeals@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Or call them on (01273) 293590