It’s fair to say that school dinners have come a long way in recent years. And with an increasing number of children whose diets are restricted by allergies, religion and ethics you would not be surprised to learn that an enormous amount of thought has to go into feeding around 3,800 of the island’s primary school children every single day.

The person in overall charge of this is primary schools catering manager, Christine Swales, and I’m meeting her in the dining hall at Peel Clothworkers which happens to be the biggest primary school kitchen, in terms of the number of meals produced, on the island. Peel is also one of a number of schools whose kitchen is a ‘cook centre’, where they are large enough to have the facilities to cook dishes from scratch.

Also there is Karen Gadsby, the cook supervisor at the school and Amber Filson, wholesale relations manager at Robinson’s, who have the contract to supply the schools with frozen products, fresh vegetables and salads. Amber works closely with Christine and the cook supervisors at the schools, helping to source products for them and letting them know what is available when they are devising menus.

Christine has worked in school meals for 16 years, both primary and high school. Before she took on her current role five years ago it had been very much a managerial one, with menus rolled out to schools and very little in terms of feedback from the kitchens. As a trained chef, she was keen to usher in a new era of cooperation, consultation and choice, as she explains: ‘Now we’ve got the suppliers finding us products and I’ve got a dietitician at the hospital who gives us lots of feedback about nutrition and calories. Then we get the feedback from the cooks themselves because they’re the ones producing the food.’

When it comes to children who couldn’t eat gluten, for example, the old way had been ‘let’s give them a jacket potato and tick the box’.

Christine says: ‘When I came to the primary schools it’s wasn’t just going to be ‘give them a jacket potato’ or just give them this alternative. I wanted us to be inclusive: regardless of what their dietary need is, they have to be included, we have a duty of care to feed every child.

‘I’m driven by food, by being a chef, I’m not just managing staff. I go round all the schools and they all talk to me and I get all the feedback: I want to give them support, but I also want them to enjoy what they’re doing.

‘You’ve got to be passionate about cooking.’

Now, if a child has an allergy, or can’t eat something for ethical or medical reasons, Christine is looking with her chef’s eye at what can be made from scratch that is gluten free, to make sure that the children with allergies are included.

She will also contact Amber who will go on a hunt to find a product which will allow children to enjoy eating something very similar to what their friends are having.

Amber says: ‘The alternatives were never really substantial enough before, but the way food has changed, now you can get a cake that just tastes like a normal cake and it’s got no eggs in it, or it’s got no gluten in it.

‘Every product we supply comes with full nutritional breakdown so the cooks look and know exactly what’s in that product.’

Christine adds: ‘Things have escalated in the last four years around labelling and all the laws that have been brought in, and that also supports us and reassures the cooks in the kitchens, so they’re not questioning every five minutes if it is safe to give a child.

‘The cooks work closely with Amber as well so she gives them all those information packs: if they read them and they’re not quite sure they’ll ring her and she will check for them.’

So what do children like to eat for their school dinners?

On the menu on the day I visited there was a choice of pizza slices or vegetable hotpot with potato croquettes and whatever they wanted from the salad bar, which is available every day. It was all nicely presented and it looked delicious.

Karen Gadsby says the most popular choices are pizza and salads, curry, sausages, roast dinners, chicken pie and chilli tacos.

But, interestingly, tastes vary across the island. Christine says: ‘In central Douglas schools they’ll eat only hot and spicy things whereas up north they like the roast dinners and in the south they like traditional meals. It’s very varied so that’s why you try and make the two daily choices compatible with all the regions on the island.’

There is also the matter of childhood obesity to consider. Primary schools have to make sure that 500 calories are available to each child from either of the two hot food choices and the dessert, which are all portion controlled. The child can then fill up on salad and fruit which are ‘free’.

That’s not bad for just £2.35 a day when you consider the emphasis on quality ingredients.

All their meat, including roasting joints - gammon, pork loin, and beef - turkey, chuck steak, burgers, meatballs and sausages comes from two local butchers, A&J and Harrison and Garrett, and the contract specifies that it should be Manx where possible.

Amber adds: ‘The potatoes are local but fresh stuff does come over from the markets. We have someone at Robinson’s who deals with all the fresh suppliers each day: he’ll ring up to see what’s available on the markets and we have a trailer that comes overnight with all the fresh produce.’

The Minister for Education has stated that school meals will not be going up despite rising costs which is going to make them an even more attractive option for families on a budget: after all, what can a busy mum put in a packed lunch every day, that also offers something different every day, for just £2.35?

If you have the time you can make fresh sandwiches and carrot batons, which are cheap enough but a bit boring after a week or so. The kitchen staff tell me that they see children coming in every day with a sausage roll from the bakery and a bag of crisps for their packed lunch, neither of which are especially cheap, or nutritious.

As far as Christine is concerned, the parents who pay for the school meals, and the children, are her customers and it’s important that they get the best she can give them.

She says: ‘I want to highlight to our customers what we’ve been doing and what goes on in the background

‘I’m not going to compromise on poor quality food just to keep the costs down. I’m a mum too: I don’t want my kids having a regurgitated, preformed chicken nugget when they can have a nice piece of chunky chicken.’