Downside to healthy school meals

We all know about the benefits of our children eating healthily, but as with all things, there's apparently a downside. A report out this week by the School Food Trust has found that pupils who eat healthily at lunchtime can be more boisterous when it comes to afternoon lessons.

Children who were fed a healthy school meal were three times as likely to be more of a handful in the afternoon – but the Trust said that this was only when asked to work by themselves in groups. If a teacher was directly controlling the class, the boisterousness didn't manifest itself to the same degree.

The findings come from having studied 146 children at six primary schools in Sheffield over a three month period. Researchers found that pupils who were eating healthier meals 'were 5.4 times as likely to be on-task in the teacher-pupil setting compared with the control schools. They were also 3.6 times as likely to be off-task in the pupil-pupil setting.'

• The school meals revolution
• Healthy packed lunches – your weekly planner
• Our Parent-to-parent Talk Forums