To celebrate the start of the Euro 2008 football championships, this Friday (6 June) primary schools across the county will be celebrating with a special Footy Feast.
All primaries who take the county council's school meals service are being invited to take part in a special Kid's Kitchen promotion made up of a special themed lunch and a sticker give-away.
As no home nations have made it through to the finals, kitchen teams will be organising a vote amongst pupils to see which of the competing nations their school would like to support - and the day's jelly will be named in honour of the chosen team!
The Footy Feast menu is just one of a number of themed promotions the council's meal service provides throughout the year, to promote fun and healthy meals to the children.
A special Kid’s Kitchen Sticker will be given to each child who stays for lunch on the day of the Footy Feast.
The Euro Cup 2008 Footy Feast Menu is:
"Continental Catch" - Cheesy Topped Fish & Pasta
Soccer side salad
and
"Come on, [country], jelly wobble" (including the name of the chosen team)
For the vegetarians, it's " Kick off cauliflower cheese" with Soccer side salad and tri-colour fasta pasta shells
A special Kid’s Kitchen Sticker will be given to each child who stays for lunch on the day of the Footy Feast.
Councillor Jim Buchanan is the county council's cabinet member for children's wellbeing. He said:
"A balanced diet has been proven to help children concentrate and improve their ability to learn, so schools providing a healthy meal in the middle of the day are providing their pupils with many benefits.
"Bringing together food and football is bound to be a winning combination - which sadly won't be the case for the national sides this year, but roll on the next World Cup in 2010!"
End
Notes
Cumbria County Council's Premises Unit currently provide school lunches at 160 of the 228 primary schools in the county
Please note: Cumbria County Council's media team telephone numbers have now changed.
Media enquiries to Alison Lister, Media Officer on 01228 226335