15863/1AN experimental school meals menu that's more expensive but relies less on processed foods has passed the taste test with young diners.

Sherston Primary School became the first in the county to offer the new enhanced lunch menu this week, following talks between parents and Wiltshire's contract caterers Sodexho.

The new menu does away with reconstituted meat, featuring only fresh produce a move that would no doubt win the approval of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver in his TV campaign to improve the quality and nutrition of school meals.

15863/1The pilot menu will be offered in tandem with the traditional school favourites such as pizza, fish fingers, chicken fillets and Yorkshire pudding for a six-week trial period.

Priced at £2.40 compared to £1.65 for a lunch from the normal menu, 30 per cent of the pupils have already given the new menu a thumbs up after only two days in operation.

Tucking into chicken breast and cranberry sauce, served with carrots, broccoli and freshly boiled potatoes, the children, whose names cannot be disclosed under school policy, seemed pleased with the choice on Tuesday.

One five-year-old girl said she preferred the new menu because it was tasty.

Sitting across from her was an eight-year-old girl happily munching pizza, baked beans and potato wedges, which were offered alongside a choice of pork rib grills and salad on the traditional menu.

She said: "I like pizza because it is tasty and nice but I will try the new menu in week three. I like the new menu very much because there is more choice.

"At home I eat fruit and on Sundays a roast dinner. I think healthy food is important because otherwise you might die of starvation."

Other delicacies on the new menu this week were baked ham with parsley sauce, savoury beef cobbler and breaded sole with lemon.

The more expensive price of the new school lunch was a problem for one health conscious eight-year-old.

She said: "I think the new menu is very expensive. I used to have the old menu and now I eat a packed lunch. I eat sandwiches, fruit, chocolate or crisps. But if I have both chocolate or crisps that is too much salt.'

Packed lunches supplied by parents still appear popular.

One nine-year-old said: "I have tried the new menu and it was tasty. But my mum usually makes my lunch. In my opinion healthier food tastes nicer.''

But a ten-year-old girl dispelled any suggestion that it was Jamie Oliver who made healthy eating fashionable. Tucking into a packed lunch with cheese and egg sandwiches and fruit, she said: "Even before Jamie Oliver went on TV I thought healthy meals were important because it is important for your skin and teeth."

Pizza and chips were still a firm favourite among many boys. A cheeky ten-year-old lad queuing for his lunch joked: "I want pizza and chips because it tastes nice but the only problem is that my aunt cooks the food."

Chief cook Becky Linsell said the new menu was going well and the children were getting used to it.

Mrs Linsell said: 'They still like pizza but lasagna is proving popular. We cook 50 meals in total each day and 15 meals per day have been served from the new menu so far.'

Headteacher Nick Bowditch said it would take time for the new menu to become established, but he expected it to become popular. "Once the word goes round, I think children will be tempted," he said.