School meals have come under the media spotlight in the past year - thanks mainly to a certain Jamie Oliver. With the year end in sight, Education Reporter Haydn Lewis visited Park Grove School, in York, to find out how youngsters there rated their Christmas dinner.

SUCCULENT turkey breast, golden roast potatoes, scrumptious stuffing ..it all sounds like the beginning of a restaurant review rather than a piece on school meals.

Christmas dinner at Park Grove School is a special occasion, with dinner ladies decked out in fancy dress, and a medley of festive hits playing on the stereo to get the young diners in the mood for the festive season - just in case they weren't excited already.

It was also special on this particular day because 201 of the 220 youngsters at the school sat down to sample the school meal, as opposed to the usual 100 who take school dinners.

Youngsters dined on a feast of turkey, sausage, roast potatoes, carrots, peas, stuffing and gravy, followed by a choice of Christmas pudding and custard or ice-cream.

Lydia Marlow, nine, said: "We have this every year and it's usually pretty good, I like the potatoes best. I would give it seven out of ten because it's not as good as my mum's."

Carie-Anne Harrison, nine, usually takes a packed lunch, but said she liked to have the school Christmas dinner. She gave the meal an eight out of ten.

"I usually have a cooked dinner on a night so I don't have school dinners normally. But because it's Christmas most people have it and it's good fun," she said.

Ryan Bainbridge, nine, said he had school dinners once or twice a week normally, but liked the Christmas meal, giving it a nine.

"It"s good, this. I like the carrots best because they are my favourite vegetable, but the meat's good too," he said.

The best rating came from eight-year-old Owen Coughlin, who said the meal scored ten out of ten.

"I like the potatoes best - I don't know why, I just really, really like them. I normally have school meals once or twice a week and they're fantastic."

For school cook Sandra Jamieson, the news could not have been much better. She has been at the school 15 years, and said in that time there had been a huge change in the quality of the meals.

"When I first started everything was frozen, even the rice pudding, but now pretty much everything is fresh.

"Today's all about good fun for the kids. We have music and Christmas crackers and they love it. The turkey today was all fresh turkey crowns and proper Christmas pudding."

The food gets the backing of head Andrew Calverley, who said: "We have a pretty good take-up of our school meals ordinarily, but pretty much everyone stays for Christmas dinner. All the food is cooked on the premises, with fresh produce."

Updated: 08:41 Wednesday, December 21, 2005