Read the latest school food blogs, including Irene Carroll, Former Chair of LACA as she talks about healthy school lunches and the build up to the week.

Well that was the LACA conference that was and it was great to see so many familiar faces. I thoroughly enjoyed the conference and my congratulations to all the LACA Award winners. I was helping Karen and Nicola on the NSMW stand and the Guide to organising NSMW was a great success, hundreds were given out. If you could not get to the conference then you can download a copy once you have registered for the week. Another reason for registering is that Mars Foodservice are giving away £2 off vouchers for their Dolmio pasta sauce.

LACA is writing to MPs and asking them to support the week. You will find a copy of the letter below and this will be with them now. You may receive a letter from a local MP offering to visit one of your schools or you could get in early and invite them. It is up to you.

This is what has been sent:

Healthy food at lunchtime is a life skill worth learning

I am writing as Chair of the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA) to congratulate you on your recent success at the general election and to introduce you to LACA (www.laca.co.uk).

A healthy school meal at lunchtime has the potential to save very many millions from the NHS budget. We must all work together over future years to: encourage young people and children to make healthier, balanced food choices; help improve diets and decrease obesity levels; and also help to combat poverty and malnutrition that is suffered by many children in this country.

Recent news concerning the cancelling of the increased free school meal eligibility and the potential loss of the School Lunch Grant will force many Local Authorities to reconsider the level of service they can provide. I believe the school meals service, as a whole, may well be at risk.

The previous government underestimated the journey needed to convince young people to change their eating habits following the introduction of the new Nutritional Standards. Five years of hard work and commitment in implementing the Standards have passed and no one wants to see this work undone. With Nutrient Standards requiring computer software and analysis and with greater use of fresh ingredients, purchasing and operational costs have grown considerably.

I am sure you can see in your own constituency the tremendous work that is carried out in schools, on a daily basis. May I ask and encourage you to visit a local school of your choice and participate in National School Meals Week which runs from Monday 8th November to Friday 12th November 2010. There is more about it at www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk.

Please do not hesitate to contact myself or our Business Manager, Vicki Young on 07810 307182, should you have any questions about the above events or indeed other work that LACA is carrying out nationally.

I hope that we can count on your support to ensure that future generations do not miss out on the fundamental right to have access to a nutritious school meal during their school day.

Yours sincerely

Beverley Baker
National Chair, LACA Ltd

I was sat waiting for the call. I had numerous cups of coffee to calm the butterflies in my tummy. But then the call came from Karen and Nicola to tell me that it had just been announced that NSMW had not won the Best use of technology Catey for 2010. I admit this was a disappointment but it is still fantastic that we were shortlisted. This is the second time LACA has been shortlisted for a Catey so perhaps it will be third time lucky. Thank you to all of you that took part in the week and I am sure we can still improve in 2010.

Next the night changed completely when the Public Sector Catey was announced. The winner was LACA Chair, Beverley Baker. I was ecstatic. I had nominated Beverley because of all the work she has done for LACA while still managing to do her day job as head of Surrey Commercial Services. Well done and thank you Beverley for everything you have done to help school catering.

I must say a big thank you to Arnold Fewell and his two daughters Karen and Nicola. They have organised NSMW and been a marvellous support to me in the lead up and during the event. They are always positive, enthusiastic and full of ideas. They have made such a difference and enabled us to move into the digital age.

It is almost here. In just a few days time it will be the LACA AGM and Conference at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole. And before that, on Monday 5th July, it is the Catey Awards Dinner in the Great Room at the Grosvenor House Hotel. LACA has been shortlisted for the Best Use of Technology Catey for National School Meals Week 2010. I will be on tenterhooks waiting to hear the news. Win or lose it is still a fantastic achievement for LACA and my thanks again must go to everyone that made it the biggest and best week yet.

National School Meals Week 2010 makes a big step forward this week with the launch of the website at www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk on Wednesday 7th just before the AGM at 3.45pm. Karen and Arnold Fewell will tell everyone what is planned for each day and how we have listened to your feedback to make the week even better. There are more downloads, the daily themes work in both Primary and Secondary Schools and there is even more fun. Also I am delighted that Mars Foodservice will support the launch day and they are making available 1,000 free jars of their pasta sauce plus 10,000 vouchers for £2 off a jar. Even Papa Dolmio will be going to the launch in the London Borough of Havering on 8th November. I must thank Gerry Clinton for offering to host this day.

Then it is on to the conference and exhibition. There is an excellent programme and I will enjoy the lively debate under our new host Dr David Bull. It will be an exciting evening on the 8th when the LACA Awards will be announced and you can see all those shortlisted on the LACA website. While you are there please ensure you go to the LACA stand and sign the School Meals Matter campaign letter. We need every signature so we can show central Government how important it is to continue the investment made in school meals and not undo all the hard work that has gone in over the last five years.

If anyone fancies a chat about NSMW then please have a word with me at the conference. See you there.

Great News! One of LACA's Partners is sponsoring the Get Eating Day which is the first day of this year's National School Meals Week. The LACA Partner is Mars Foodservice and the day is officially sponsored by their Dolmio sauce brand. You may well have seen the fun Dolmio characters that appear regularly on television. If not, you can also see them at http://www.dolmio.co.uk/Meetthefamily.aspx 

Schools will be able to get a free jar of traditional Bolognese sauce and download other resources to promote the day such as how to run the day, draft invitations to celebrities and menu posters. There will be a Dolmio page on the www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk website and at the launch day meal young people will be tucking into a delicious plate of spaghetti Bolognese.

I am really delighted that one of our Partners has got involved in this way. This is the first Partner to do so and I really hope that others will come forward in the future. As Sarah Gray from Mars said to me, "NSMW is a highlight of the catering calendar in our books. It is a fantastic event and one that Dolmio is delighted to help and support. The Education Catering market is a very important marketplace for us and we realise that times will be tough over the next few years as the country has to make savings. This is why I am sure the free product and resources that we are sponsoring will help caterers effectively promote a healthy, good quality and value for money school meal. Last year there was clear evidence that the week increased meal numbers and I am sure this success can be repeated. If anyone needs any help from Mars Foodservice then please contact me at sarah.gray@eu.effem.com".

In a few weeks time we will have a new Government. As yet we don't know what colour it will be red, blue, yellow or even a mixture. Whatever the result of the election, it is the economy that will be at the top of the agenda? And local Government will be squeezed of money and school meals could be seen an easy hit.

I believe that over the next few years the financial pressures on school caterers will grow considerably. As individual trading units the requirement will be for caterers to breakeven as a minimum. This is a challenge when meal numbers have not reached the pre Jamie Oliver figures and the transitional grant will run out in April 2011 and may not be renewed or if renewed, may not be ringfenced.

I realise that no Government can make school catering a bottomless cash hole but I do believe the money put in must be seen as an investment in the future health of this country. The savings in future NHS costs will be very substantial if there is a vibrant and successful school meals service now. And it may mean that free healthcare for all is an affordable service for the country in the years to come if we act now and improve the health of the nation.

So much has been achieved over the last few years with new nutritional standards, improved training, more money spent on food and it would be a tragedy if all this was lost. I urge an incoming government to extend the transitional grant for at least another four years. This will ensure all the success that has been achieved can be consolidated. However, there is something you can do to make this happen and this is where I am asking for your support.

LACA with Caterer and Hotelkeeper has launched a campaign called School Meals Matter. It is vital that everyone involved with school catering supports it. That includes caterers, contractors, suppliers, elected members, school based staff, local authority staff and parents. Please take a few moments to download the petition letter and pass it on to as many people as possible. Alternatively you can register your support online. The worst thing that can happen is you doing nothing. You can tell friends, family and colleagues. The more support we have the better it is so I urge you to act now. On behalf of LACA I say thank you. Let's see if we can get over 10,000 supporters. That would be brilliant.

As part of the evaluation process for the LACA Board, AVF Marketing undertook market research with all the people that signed up for last year's event. The feedback was excellent and produced a very interesting fact. It showed that where schools and authorities had a sales increase in meal numbers the average figure was 7.81%. This is a very encouraging figure and proves that not only does the week increase awareness but it can also have a significant increase in meal numbers. We will be actively promoting this result in the build up to 2010 to show the benefits of taking part.
Thank you to all of you that sent back constructive comments about the week. We discussed all these last week and will incorporate as many as we can. This includes; having more downloads; promoting more to teachers; having days that can be run in both Primary and Secondary Schools. So please keep coming back for more information in the build up to the week. The closer we get the more blogs there will be.

Here we go again on the blogging front as we start the build up for this year. At the last board meeting of LACA the dates for this year's NSMW were agreed. The event will take place from Monday 8th November 2010 until Friday 12th. It was also agreed that the "Get involved" theme would be continued and that all schools and local authorities would be able to register free and then download all the materials they want. The event will be launched at the LACA Conference that is taking place on 8th and 9th July at the Hilton Metropole at the NEC in Birmingham.

I have always believed that when we say thank you to someone you can see them grow that little bit taller. I am sure that feeling will apply to lots of school caterers today as they receive thank you cards from their customers. Some schools have done this already and the results can be seen in the gallery at www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk. Well done to them all because too often we forget all the hard work that is going on during morning lessons. May I add my thanks to everyone for all their efforts on this year's NSMW. It has been a brilliant week!

There is up to £350 up for grabs today as students Get Filming their healthy school meals. All they have to do is make an advert to promote healthy eating to their friends and colleagues. There is a lot of help online with information to download plus an interview with Karen Fewell. Karen has been a key player behind the scenes and had a major input into the website. She is an experienced video producer and she shares her ideas to help teenagers produce a great advert. There is also an advert targeted at Primary School pupils. Students can watch this and see if it gives them any ideas. I am looking forward to seeing the winners as I am confident they will be very creative. We have already had some enquiries so let's hope we get lots more.

Cans of fruit, vegetables and beans will make great alternatives to dumbbells when students do the exercises in Colin Jackson's workout routine. You do not require lots of expensive equipment. By the way this probably explains why my stock cupboard is so low. Only joking! But I hope teenagers across the country will be taking part in the Get Active day. It is important to have a balanced diet but school caterers also need to promote the value of taking regular exercise and Colin does just that. Why not have a look yourself? In my opinion all this should be part of a whole school approach. This resource is available for the next few months so if you haven't used it this week you can do so at another time.

A couple of months ago I went down to meet Debbie Mumford in Devon at her own school. I saw how she prepares her winning recipes because she is this year's LACA School Chef of the Year (SCOTY). This competition always amazes me because I see all the talent that exists in school kitchens across the country. Now you can watch Debbie hard at work. Not only does she prepare her winning recipes but she demonstrates how to make cottage pie, prepare vegetables and make a salad. This is a great way to get Primary pupils involved and start an interest in food. I am certain that the earlier this happens the sooner children will learn about a balanced diet with great tasting food. And the sooner they will start having a school meal.

Colin Jackson learning to cook

After months of planning NSMW is off and running. The launch was fantastic and it was a great pleasure to meet Colin Jackson. He is a great ambassador and he was brilliant with both the media and all the young people he met. He announced Britain's favourite school meal which was a Roast dinner followed by sponge pudding and custard. We had that for a lunch and a special thank you must go to Morpeth Secondary School in Bethnal Green. Colin took part in a Get Active session where students did his online exercise routine that can be done at home or at school. He also helped to serve lunch and even wore a chef's jacket and hat. Finally he made some thank you cards for the caterers with pupils from a local Primary School. These are now proudly displayed on the dining room wall.

Just packing the bags as on Sunday afternoon I am off to Tower Hamlets for the launch of NSMW. I am really looking forward to it as there has been so much planning over the last 10 months. We all have a briefing on Sunday night with Arnold and his team. Hazel Green will be updating us on the traditional media that are involved and I am really looking forward to meeting Colin Jackson. I have heard so many positive things about him.

Look out for coverage next week and if you have any local news please let us know.

Have a great week.

For all those working this week can I ask you to check two things for NSMW? Firstly that you have told us what you are doing during the week. If you haven't, then please fill in the section under My NSMW on www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk. Secondly if you have not done it already please get everyone in the office, family and friends voting for their favourite school meal at www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk/vote. The vote closes on Sunday 31st so there is still time and every vote is important because it adds credibility to the results.

And if any of you have any final questions or comments then please let Arnold know at Arnold@avfmarketing.co.uk.

As we all get ready for a great week can I ask you to think about how we can make things even better for next year? I think this year is the biggest and best NSMW ever but I do accept I am biased. We know it is the biggest but only you can decide if it is the best. In life we can always do things differently and LACA made major changes to the event this year. After the week we will be asking you to tell us what we should change or improve next year. So please make notes during the week and then let us know when we contact you. Thanks again.

This year's NSMW is the biggest ever. It has more authorities and schools taking part. The previous best was 80 authorities and now there are over 90. Thanks must go to all of you that have registered, downloaded plans and got their teams motivated. Now I must ask for one more thing. Please submit your plans about what you are doing during this week. This will have two advantages. Firstly your local press and media can see what you are doing and we can use this information to tell the national press. So please take just a few minutes to do this. Thanks for your continued support.

At this year's LACA Conference the importance of headteachers came out very strongly. So much so that the Chair of LACA, Beverley Baker, has already made it one of her key objectives for the year. She said, "Where we have the support and commitment of the Headteachers we have a successful school catering service". This is why NSMW is so important as it is a great way of getting their support. There are lots of free activities. I hope that you will use them, not just in the week, but throughout the academic year ahead. I know that the more you get teachers involved the more children will have a school meal and we all know how important that is.

I have just been to the round table discussion about NSMW and other key subjects for school caterers. It was organised by Mark Lewis, Editor of the Caterer and Hotelkeeper and Beverley Baker, Chair of LACA. The results will be published on Thursday 5th November so make sure you read a copy. It was a fascinating debate and included subjects like NSMW, what will happen after the next election and future funding issues.

This week further filming for NSMW took place in Croydon, but firstly I must say a big thank you to Allyson Lloyd who made all the arrangements. Leon Taylor who is a BBC Commentator and former Silver medallist at the Athens games in the synchronised diving was there to help with all the questions. He helped to keep everyone amused all day and he was brilliant with the children.

He also brought along his silver medal, which everyone wanted to hold!

Leon and Debbie Mumford, SCOTY winner, worked really well together with Leon acting as the presenter and Debbie demonstrating her cooking skills. She was brilliant and thanks also to her and Barbara, her contract manager, for coming up from Devon for the day. Debbie prepared her winning recipes and demonstrated a number of cookery skills. This was for the Get Cooking day on 10th November. I can say it will be a great success so make sure you use it to promote your school meals.

We are now at four weeks and still counting down to the launch of NSMW. It is amazing how time flies and it feels like just a couple of months since we had the first presentation on NSMW by AVF Marketing. That was last December and so much has been going on since.
Just recently we have been busy filming and there are lots of new videos now on the site, including Karen Fewell, Beverley Baker and myself. And have you ordered your stickers. There are only a couple of days left to do so, order them now.

The vote to find Britain's most popular school meal is well underway and there is just about another month to go. We want to make this a truly national vote so if you have not done so please vote, just follow this link www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk/vote.

We want to get more votes from Primary pupils so please can you encourage your schools to "Get involved" now. There is a draft letter you can download from www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk once you have registered on the website. You can edit and amend this to meet your needs.

Also, get your family, friends and colleagues to take part as it is the more the merrier.

Well I am packing my bags and off to Devon but not going for a holiday this time, much is the pity as we had a lovely family holiday in August. We are filming Debbie Mumford and her SCOTY winning recipes at her school in Ivybridge, Devon. On top of that we will be creating short clips that show off some basic cooking skills. These will be uploaded later and there will be a lesson plan to support the clips.

I think this initiative is really important. Firstly it promotes the skills of all our school caterers from across the country. We know how good they are but we need to make sure parents, teachers and pupils know just how much care and thought goes into preparing every meal.

The second and perhaps the most important is that we can stimulate an interest in food and cooking. This will give the young watchers a skill for life that will also help them enjoy healthy food to the full. The younger we start the better, in my opinion.

So please tell your teachers what is on the way so the video clips can reach the biggest audience.

Well I am not sure if my Welsh above is correct but I do know that a lot of Welsh translation has been taking place. Firstly you can now download all the NSMW posters in the Welsh language so our colleagues in Wales can fully take part in the week.

The next area to go live is the Welsh version of the vote to find Britain's Favourite School Meal. It means we will have a Welsh regional result and that should make an interesting comparison with England and Scotland. And finally there will be a Welsh mini site for the week at www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk/welsh. The online videos and thank you cards will be translated so that all the Welsh language schools can take part.

This is the first time LACA has created a Welsh language version and was an urgently needed development.

As everyone was getting ready for the new academic year Karen and Nicola were filming Colin Jackson undertaking a wide variety of exercise routines. It is all part of the Get Active Day that is taking place on Wednesday 11th November. Apparently there were some amusing out takes but no secrets have yet been revealed. I will keep trying to find out more.

Nicola said: "We all had a great day at the filming. Colin was a very funny, professional and really nice person to work with. I am confident that we have created a great resource for schools and caterers to use during National School Meals Week so watch this space!"

Colin is talking at the School Food Trust Conference in Birmingham on 29th September so many of you will be able to hear him then.

You can also find out more about what happened at the filming in Karen and Nicola's blog, which will be live soon.

South Tyneside is the first authority to tell us what they have planned for NSMW so a very special well done and thanks to them. This is what they have told us they are doing:

On the Tuesday of NSMW we are inviting all our Secondary Schools to ask if they would like their cooks to work with them to do some cooking.

On the Wednesday, our school catering teams and some local Primary pupils are taking part in a Fun run/walk around Monkton Stadium in Jarrow in aid of a local Children's charity. (Last year we raised almost £800 during NSMW)

On the Thursday we are asking all our Primary and Secondary school cooks to do a fun lunch, dress up and do up their counters (photos of them and their counters to be sent in and judged for the best in each category and the prize for the winning kitchen teams to have a meal in the local college restaurant)

Finally, on the Friday of NSMW we are holding "a Design a thank you card for the kitchen teams competition" in the Primary schools, with certificates and a prize for the winning cards in each school who takes part.

We can now give South Tyneside PR and the sooner you tell us what you are doing the more we can help you.

The vote to find Britain's most popular school meal and dessert is well underway and thanks to everyone that has voted. We still need lots more of you to vote so please get all your staff, family and friends involved. You could also put something in your bulletins to staff or on your Intranet. You will benefit in the long term because the more results we have in the local regions the more PR we can do on your behalf. So please get everyone voting now.

August can be a funny month for school caterers. In some ways it is the quietest and in other ways it is the busiest month of the year. If schools are closed then it should be quiet but August is probably as busy as any other time. Firstly many staff are on holiday but secondly it is vital planning time for the academic year ahead. New kitchens, recruiting staff, menu planning are just some of the jobs to do in August. If you are using it to plan your activities for NSMW then make sure you have two of the key downloadable resources.

If you did not get your "How to organise NSMW Guide" at the LACA Conference then you can download one from the "My NSMW Account" page once you have registered at www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk/Authorities/Register-now-for-NSMW/. While there make sure you also download the A3 planning tool. This is great to put up on the office wall so that everyone knows what is going on and who is responsible for each day.

The numbers of authorities and schools taking part in National School Meals Week (NSMW) are growing every day, we only launched the site two weeks ago and already have 37 authorities/DIY schools signed up. There are lots of advantages to registering and saying you are taking part in National School Meals Week. You get access to all sorts of tools to help you prepare for the event. Why not start by following this link and seeing who has signed up in your area.
http://www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk/Media/Who-is-Taking-Part/

You can register for the week from the Home Page of www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk. You will then have access to the following:

• Downloads - such as posters, letters, planning documents and a How to Guide are all available to download from the site now. Over the coming months more and more tools will be made available to help you prepare for the week.
• Webinars - you can sign-up to free webinars to find out more about the week and to listen to an introduction to digital marketing. The webinars are run by Arnold and Karen Fewell and are a great opportunity for you to pick their marketing brains!
• Interact with others - share your ideas and plans for the week and help each other make this an amazing National School Meals Week.

If you haven't already, make sure you ‘Get Involved'.

I am thrilled that Colin Jackson CBE will be launching National School Meals Week on the 9th November. This was announced today at the LACA AGM. Colin is a fantastic role model for everyone. He was a World Champion at the 110 metres hurdles, he did very well in "Strictly Come Dancing" and has appeared in the genealogical programme "Who do you think you are". He also regularly commentates on athletics for the BBC. He will be well known to parents and teachers and he will be an excellent role model for students. Make sure you see how you can include him in your plans.

I must stress that we want people to take part. That does not necessarily mean doing everything in the "How to" booklet. You can pick and choose the ideas or do your own. It is up to you. But please share the work out with your team as I know this will reap the benefits in more meals served.

It doesn't seem like a year ago we were all assembling in Birmingham for the LACA Conference. But it is!

The conference is a great time to meet up with friends old and new, catch up with the gossip and hear more about the latest challenges facing school caterers. They never go away and change is always around us. But that is part of the job and what makes it so fascinating to be part of the school catering industry.

It is also an important time for National School Meals Week as Arnold and Karen Fewell unveil the latest version of the website with much more information about the week. They are making a presentation to LACA members at the AGM on Wednesday 8th. I hope you will be there. It will soon be live so bookmark this page and come back soon to register that you are taking part.

If you can't get there the PowerPoint of the presentation will be on this website so you can download it easily. Why not share it with your team. You can also download the booklet called "How to organise National School Meals Week" and an A3 planning tool for your team. These are great resources so please use them. The web address is www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk.

Well I had a great holiday but it was quickly back into National School Meals Week. Lots to read about and make sure I was happy with everything - and I was. I heard that Karen Fewell has just made a great presentation in Derbyshire to the Eastern Region of LACA. Her presentation went down very well and the audience was delighted to hear about how the plans for National School Meals Week were going. Arnold and Karen have said they are happy to attend other LACA regions if that is helpful. That sounds like a good idea to me. Why not email them at nsmw@avfmarketing.co.uk.

However, Arnold and Karen will be joined by Nicola Proud at the conference. Nicola is Arnold's middle daughter. You will recognise them as they are wearing sashes saying "Ask me about NSMW". So please do. They have a stand and they are happy to talk to you about both NSMW and how we are moving towards a digital marketing age. I find the transition fascinating.

Some authorities might be wary of starting down the route of user generated content. This is where customers are given the chance to pass comment online about the food or service that their children receive. I can understand this concern but it is important to remember that most negatives can be made into a positive. This is what we aim to do with complaints and I know from my own experiences that complainants can be made into loyal customers and supporters. So if we encourage more feedback from our online customers the stronger the service will become. For example one authority I know had a negative comment about school meals contributing to the obesity problem. The Head of Service responded online and soon attracted four supportive comments and the negative was dealt with and everyone can see it. That is why user generated content has a role to play provided you use it properly. Another benefit that a colleague mentioned was how it showed elected members the way the catering service was interacting with customers and voters.

No these are not potential burglars but people that visit social networking sites to browse through the content. A bit like you are doing now. The aim is to attract their interest and keep it for as long as possible. That is why one writes a regular blog. At present we are going through the "lurker" phase where people browse but don't leave a comment. This is while people gain confidence in the site. I hope it won't be long before we have more people leaving comments and suggestions. I look forward to reading them. In the meantime thank you to the many people who have phoned and email me. It has been great to hear from you.

One of the benefits of NSMW this year is the team of people that are involved. It means lots of ideas are fed into AVF Marketing to help with the plans. For example Hazel Green, LACA PR, suggested running the online vote to find Britain's Favourite School Meal before the week and announce the results on the Monday. Chris Wainwright, Communications Director from the SFT, suggested "Get Eating" as a theme. Both of these have now been incorporated into the plan. So if you have any more ideas then please let us have them.

I am delighted to say that LACA has received financial support from the School Food Trust (SFT). This is brilliant news and I wanted to say thank you to everyone at the SFT for their contribution to the week. The money will be put to good use and help us improve the week still further. For example we can employ an athlete with a higher profile, increase the value or number of competition prizes and add more resources to the website.

I also want to say a big thank you to Mark Lewis from Caterer and Hotelkeeper and David Foad from Cost Sector Catering. They have agreed to support the week and promote the event via their magazines. A number of ideas are under discussion so look out for more information in the next few months.

Hi again,

Thanks to everyone who has read my blogs, left a message or sent an email. The interest has been fantastic. We are getting up a great head of steam that I am sure will be built up much further as we get closer to the week. Thank you also to the suppliers that have shown an interest and booked their place in the suppliers' directory. This is invaluable as it enables us to do more to promote the positive messages of school meals.

The suppliers' directory is a great addition this year as suppliers can promote their products and services online. There are three packages with different prices. The first is just for contact details (£100), the second allows two graphics and a page of copy (£250) and the top package allows a web contact plus a banner headline in the website (£400). These banners will rotate at random so the pages always look different. The big advantage of the top package is it gives the supplier another "in bound" link that will help their Search Engine Optimisation.

There are two questions we are wrestling with at the moment and perhaps you can help. The first is who should be the voice of the week? By that I mean which personality, athlete or celebrity should we have? It can't be a footballer because we can't afford it and more importantly whichever person we chose we would upset the rest of the football fans across the country and so be unproductive. Should it be an Olympian like Rebecca Adlington, the swimmer that one two gold medals in Beijing, or Rebecca Romero who has won a silver medal for rowing in 2004 and in 2008 she won a gold medal in cycling. Could it be someone entirely different? What do you think?

The second question is what are the ten most popular school meals main courses and puddings. The reason for asking is on the Monday of NSMW we are organising the "Big Vote" to find out Britain's most popular school meal. To do this we want to get people's top ten so please send them in. The vote will show regional variations so you can see what is popular in your area.

Just email me your ideas and thoughts at Irene@iloveschoolmeals.co.uk. I really look forward to hearing from you and as our strap line says I hope you "Get involved".

There is so much going on with NSMW that it is difficult to know where to start. Marketing is changing as a result of the massive growth of the Internet. The role of paper based items is now to drive people to websites. There is also a huge growth in social networking as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter dominate more of our customers' lives. More and more people are creating their own content and letting it be read by the online community. This blog is a good example.

Our young customers and often their parents have embraced this technology and taken multi-tasking to a new level. They can talk on their mobile, send an email, go online in a chat room, listen to music and still have TV playing in the background. Communication is now on a different level. There are all the new media channels and whereas we often used to send letters that could take days and sometimes weeks, we now communicate via email, text or SMS and the response is often instant.

We need to understand, accept and use the new digital techniques. Let's start with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). This is a technique to increase the page ranking of the website. By this I mean getting your website in the top three pages of Google and ideally on the first. Very few people go beyond page three when they put in a search item e.g. school meals. People surfing in this manner will be shown the results for both "natural search" and "paid search". Paid search is what it says on the tin, as Ronseal would say. Someone is paying for their website to be featured at the top or top right hand side of the page within a highlighted area. LACA is using SEO to raise its natural search profile via NSMW.

This means writing blogs, encouraging inbound links, using key words in the copy and writing copy in a specific way that reinforces the messages. Fortunately we have Karen Fewell to help us. Her success and use of SEO can be measured very easily. Just type in "Digital marketing consultant" into Google. I have just done it and Karen comes out Number 2 in the world and Number 1 in Europe. Thank heavens for that!

SEO is something that school caterers must be aware of. You should talk to your web providers and see if they understand how to use this technology. If they don't then you must find someone that can. We are caterers and long may that remain.

Irene Carroll is co-ordinating National School Meals Week for the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA). Irene was formerly Head of Catering for the City of Southampton and National chairman of LACA 2006/7.

Well here we go with my first ever blog as we build up to National School Meals Week from 9th to 13th November. This event is very different from anything LACA has done before. We are moving into the digital age of marketing under the guidance and support of AVF Marketing.

It is a very exciting time and I am learning a lot about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Blogging, Pod and Vid Casts, social networking and much more. Over the next few months I will explain everything that is going on. So please bookmark this page and come back regularly to find out more.

On this site you can download a briefing document. There is one for school caterers and another for suppliers. Have a look at them now and start to think about how you want to "Get involved". If you have any questions then please email me at the address below.

irene@iloveschoolmeals.co.uk

The clock is counting down and the week will soon be here. It is a great opportunity to increase awareness and meal numbers so please take part.