School head bans fast-food deliveries

Pupils at his secondary school are phoning orders for takeaways to the nearby cafe and youngsters are queuing up at the gates to take delivery.

Mike Nolan, head of Ecclesfield Secondary School, Sheffield, aims to stamp out the deliveries which he claims are destroying the school's healthy eating policy.

Mr Nolan said : "I do not find it acceptable for a trader to stand at the school gates and deliver junk food.

"It is important to us that children are given a healthy diet and there are a range of food options we provide in school which are within the Government's healthy eating guidelines.

"What children eat during the day is vital to how they perform."

But Matthew Rodgers, 46, who runs Cafe Revolution, said: "We provide healthy food and the children get a 10 per cent discount and free fruit with every order.

"We use sausages and burgers which are endorsed by Jamie Oliver. If the school was catering for the children's needs there would be no need for us at all.

"The head teacher has never contacted me about this issue. Maybe he should come down and have a meal here and he would realise we are not a greasy spoon cafe.

"We serve healthy good-quality food and that's what the kids at his school get from us."

One 15-year-old student who did not want to be named said: "The food at the cafe is the sort of stuff you can't get in school. because they have banned it as part of a healthy eating campaign. They don't sell sausage sandwiches, sausage rolls or crisps."

Four years ago three mothers from Rawmarsh, Rotherham, were criticised after passing through school railings to pupils.