Somerset schools to tweet what they eat

6th August 2009, 10:30am

From the start of the autumn term parents across Somerset will become the first to be able to subscribe to a daily 'school menu' update, listing what their child will be eating for lunch.

Somerset County Council's Somerset County Services (SCS are trialling Twitter as an easy way to keep in touch with parents. Somerset County Council is the first local authority to use Twitter to publish its school menu.

Every morning parents who are subscribed to Twitter/SCSSchoolMeals will receive a tweet showing what's on the menu. Any parent, grandparent or carer can sign up, whether their child currently eats school meals or not, and keep up to date with the range of seasonal food on offer. The feed will also be used to update parents on special theme days, taster sessions and how to apply for free school meals.

Cathy Courts from Netmums praised the trial: "Our recent school food survey found that one of the biggest concerns that parents have around school meals is that they don't know what their child is eating. Getting a menu every day will put parents in much better control of their child's diet."

According to UKLocalCouncils, 116 councils are currently on Twitter, giving people the chance to get regular updates on planning, local initiatives, voting, utilities and a wide range of local issues.

The UK Government also published a 20-page guide to Twitter on the Cabinet Office website at the end of July, urging MPs and civil servants to embrace the micro-blogging service.

Related Articles:

• 12 Oct 2009 - Free school meals in Newham sees take-up exceed 75%
• 28 Sep 2009 - Wakefield schools join Twitter to describe what they eat
• 14 Aug 2009 - Recession funding call over free school meals
• 11 Aug 2009 - More pupils now eligible for free school meals

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