LUKE Dawes is munching his way though a healthy jacket potato and cheese. It's midday and, luckily, his school still has a kitchen.

Luckily, because today many schoolchildren miss out on a hot meal at lunchtime, due mostly to the policy in the 1980s and 1990s which allowed schools to close their kitchens, lay off the cooks and use the space for other things. Many were turned into classrooms, which, at the time, seemed more important.

But history has a habit of coming back to haunt policy-makers, and when the Government announced, last week, that £280m would be spent re-opening and refurbishing school cooking facilities, it was with obvious delight it could say it was reversing the decline started by the Conservatives.

Indeed, Worcester MP Mike Foster said the Tories' "chickens are coming home to roost".

But this is more than just politics.

There is a growing realisation that, for children to be receptive and for them to behave at the same time, they must be fed, and fed the right kinds of food.

Reversing the closures of school kitchens will be a slow process.

"What was once a kitchen is now my nursery," says Valerie Holland, who has been the headteacher of Cranham Primary School in Warndon, Worcester, since 1989.

Things have changed in the couple of decades she has been in charge of schools, and she is adamant that schools have got to do much more than teach youngsters how to spell or do their sums.

"We've seen a change in society," she says. "The school has a much more important part to play in the community. We have many more working mums. Some of the children come in at 8am. Some may not have had breakfast."

Next term, after years of planning and fund-raising, Cranham will re-open its kitchen. Mrs Holland consulted parents before starting and found that 98 per cent supported the project.

She is bullish about the positive effect it will have, saying: "It will enable us to provide them with a breakfast of toast and a hot drink first thing in the morning and a substantial meal at midday. It is very obvious but, just like anybody, if children haven't eaten, that's when tiredness sets in. It's necessary to stock your body with fuel."

Mrs Holland hopes also to use the kitchen to provide cookery classes for parents so good practice can continue at home.

"Traditional ways of cooking are not being passed down the generations any more," she said.

Worcestershire county councillor Jo Hodges is leading a group investigating the link between diet and achievement and behaviour. "Evidence suggests that what children eat, affects them," she says. "We don't have the power to cut things out of school dinners but we are speaking to school caterers. Schools have got to accept that offering things like fizzy drinks at dinner times may not be in their interests."

At Luke's school, Oldbury Park Primary in St John's, Worcester, dinners are made by Shire Services, a wing of Shropshire County Council. Fruit juices and flavoured waters without additives are the only drinks on offer.

As headteacher Jackie Ludlow points out: "It's vital that children are healthy and we see school meals as part of that. After all, we teach about healthy lifestyles in science and it's important that what we serve to them at lunchtime does not contradict that."

And perhaps most importantly of all, what does Luke think ?

"It's really good," he said. "It's nice to have something that tastes nice every day."

WHAT'S ON THE MENU FOR LUNCH?

SO, what meals are on offer in our schools? Here is a typical week of school dinners provided in Worcestershire schools by Shire Services:

Monday

Oven-baked breaded fish/Beef or vegetable bolognaise with spaghetti.

Chocolate and mandarin sponge/ Yoghurt/Fruit salad.

Tuesday

Sausages with gravy/Roasted vegetables with pasta.

Rice pudding with sultanas/ Shortbread/Yoghurt.

Wednesday

Chicken or vegetable tikka and rice /Fish coddles

Lemon drizzle sponge with custard/ Ice cream tub/Fruit salad.

Thursday

Roast pork, stuffing and gravy/ Cheese and carrot or tuna and sweet corn salad wrap.

Apple crumble and custard/ Cornflake crunchie.

Friday

Assorted pizza/Oven-baked lemon sole. Chocolate chip and raisin flapjack/Fruit kebabs.