I REFER to your article on Friday, November 5, 2004 by Richard Hooton entitled 'The chips are down.' Several copies were brought to my attention by parents and staff at Tockholes C of E Primary School. The article was highly critical of school meals and contained quotes from two parents, one at my school, one at Edenfield.

As only two parents were quoted commenting on school meals it would have been courteous and quite simple to obtain factual information from both schools involved. The article later contains quotes from three headteachers but no parents from their schools. This unbalanced view gives readers a distorted picture of what is being service in school dining halls.

We have, since January 2004, introduced a healthy school menu following wide consultation with parents, children and the LEA. Children are offered fresh fruit and vegetables as extras every day and main meals are planned following a healthy format. We have banned unhealthy snacks such as crisps and sweets at playtimes and replaced them with fruit. Parents and children are happy with the changes and we have not received any negative feedback since January.

I have contacted the parent you quoted who assures me she reported that her child who has never had a school lunch, chooses to bring a packed lunch because she prefers sandwiches and snacks, not because our lunches are unhealthy. She also reported dissatisfaction with lunches provided for her older daughter, which for whatever reasons you failed to report. She also told your reporter she was happy with lunches provided for her son at a local secondary school which you presumably did not report as positive comments do not sell newspapers. She also commented that Tockholes was one school she knows did provide healthy lunches.

I challenge Mr Hooton to sample our fare to enable him to make an honest judgment of their quality.

B COCKEN (Mrs), Headteacher, Tockholes CE Primary School, Rook Lane, Tockholes.

Footnote: The healthiness of school meals is a matter of immense public interest. Our report was based on the previous day's comments of leading Lancashire nutrition expert Jenny Slaughter, who said primary school menus on average contained 28 per cent more saturated fat, 40 per cent more salt and 19 per cent more sugar than recommended.

She said some schools didn't even have the equipment to peel a potato and warned that if nothing was done to improve children's eating habits many could die before their parents.

On November 5 we quoted three Blackburn primary school heads at length defending what was offered to pupils and the comments of two parents.

We think the article was fair and balanced following on from very strong expert concern.

We thank Mrs Cocken for the invitation to sample her school's fare and will be contacting her to try to take it up.

- Editor.