TELEVISION chef Jamie Oliver is on a high-profile crusade to ban junk food from school kitchens.

But one Linthwaite school could teach him a few tricks about persuading youngsters to ditch the chips and choose a healthier option.

Channel 4 show Jamie's School Dinners sees the chef struggling to persuade stubborn youngsters - and their parents - that healthy food is best.

But at Linthwaite Ardron Memorial C of E School this battle has been won.

In just a year, the school's canteen has been turned into a health food haven.

When headteacher Eelin Megson arrived at the church-funded school two years ago, children were eating standard school dinners - processed potato products and reconstituted meat or fish ``fun shapes".

All the food arrived frozen and was simply reheated by kitchen staff.

Now, children are eating fresh fish, traditional roast dinners, vegetarian meals or salad- all made from scratch and using fresh ingredients.

Children can get fruit at break time and have full bottles of water with them all day, to prevent dehydration.

At mealtimes, children sit in mixed- age groups with set places and attractive table arrangements.

Mrs Megson said: "We have been working to improve the lunchtime experience for the children.

"It teaches them that eating is a social experience, not just belting food down and running out to play."

She said the pupils' diets had changed their behaviour.

"We noticed that some pupils with behaviour problems were much worse after lunch. We monitored them and saw what they ate. Some of them were climbing the walls after having cans of pop.

"I was concerned with what was coming in some children's lunchboxes, things like chocolate and crisps.

"We've kept parents informed and they are making an effort to give their children healthy sandwiches and fruit.

"We can't say 100% it was just diet, but those pupils prone to bad behaviour have improved since the meals changed,' she added.

"We think all this has had a positive impact on children's learning."

Since the healthy meals came on the menu the uptake of school dinners has increased by 50%.

This figure is set to rise after parents sampled the canteen cuisine this week.

Mrs Megson said: "Some of the children also tried the meals for the first time. All the comments were positive and quite a few parents said they'd be happy for their children to have school meals from next week. It's wonderful."

Mrs Megson praised Kirklees Council for its support of the project. The school buys in its school meals services from the education department. Mrs Megson said: "Kirklees bent over backwards to support what we were doing."

* Jamie's School Dinners series finished this week.

* Increasing the minimum amount of money spent per child per day (currently 37p)

* Clarifying the current nutritional standards for school dinners, so that Ofsted can inspect thoroughly

* Raise standards by developing an NVQ, or similar qualification, for all dinner ladies

* Making nutritional health a part of the national curriculum for all primary schools in England and Wales

* Ensuring that the needs of big business are not put before the needs of children with respect to catering organisations that supply schools