NOT so very long ago, the phrase school dinner was guaranteed to conjure up images of grey mince, over-stewed cabbage and, horror of horrors, sago pudding with the appearance and consistency of tepid frogspawn.

More recently, there was a shift to more edible fare, but because much of it was fried and almost all of it was highly processed, edibility came at a cost – we were feeding our children junk food.

Then along came Jamie Oliver, a celebrity chef who was himself scarcely out of short trousers, who began spreading a new gospel of healthy eating throughout Britain’s school canteens. Out went chips and turkey twizzlers; in came fresh fruit and vegetables, pasta and salads.

There is little to suggest that this Island’s school kitchens have ever been among the worst offenders in the junk food league. That said, change is afoot, the value of healthy eating for young people having been acknowledged at all levels of the educational system.

School dinners are being consigned to the past and are being replaced by meals which, without overmuch irony, we can call school luncheons. The accent is not only on quality ingredients of proven nutritional value but also on standards of preparation and presentation calculated to whet appetites.

Just how seriously these principles are being taken is evidenced by the nature of the organisation which is taking over the canteens at Haute Vallée, Les Quennevais, Hautlieu, Grainville and Highlands College. Jersey Pottery is more usually associated with top-level restaurant dining and outside catering than with food in educational establishments, but it is embracing its new line of business with enthusiasm.

The Pottery can no doubt be relied upon to produce enjoyable meals with the right nutritional content – it has, after all, been doing just this for many years in other contexts. However, its efforts will be bolstered by the Jersey School Food Standards, a set of formal criteria to be phased in over the next three years.

Meanwhile, at a time when the cost of any service connected to public sector activity is of great concern, the public will be glad to learn that there is no States subsidy for school canteens. They should also be glad to hear that the Jersey Pottery’s catering arm believes that it can make an honest profit while charging prices that schools, students and parents regard as acceptable.