THE fight against childhood obesity has been taken to school dining halls to coincide with Euro 2004.

Dinner ladies will be serving up healthier dishes made up of the sorts of foods eaten by top footballers such as Frank Lampard, who scored for England against France in Sunday's match.

Commonweal School is taking part in the Food For Sport initiative, which is backed by Wendy Martin-son, the nutritional advisor to the England squad.

Instead of chips and burgers, pupils now have a wider range of healthy alternatives.

Lucy Dams, 13, is pleased the menu has been changed.

She said: "My parents don't like me having chips and it is a bit boring, but the chicken dish we are having today tastes really nice."

School chef Sherry Lambdon, who works for the catering firm Sodexho, said: "We have always had healthy choices on the menu and we are increasing that with the hot food.

"The menu has been going down quite well. We've had one or two children who weren't happy because of a lack of burgers!

"We have taken them off the menu and are only doing burgers and chips about twice a week.

"Some of the dishes have sold out so children are going for the healthier foods."

Pupils have received post-card sized booklets, entitled What to Eat to Win, which contain a mix of nutritional information, football trivia, a fill-in-and-keep guide to Euro 2004, and even a "pee" chart similar to the ones used by sportspeople.

(The idea is for the youngsters to keep themselves healthy and hydrated by maintaining their urine within a certain colour range.)

Every day a fascinating fact, which has a healthy message, will be highlighted. One fact is that a footballer may burn off 1,000 calories during a 90-minute game, compared to just 170 calories if sitting watching it.

David Cole, operations director at Sodexho, said: "This is something we have been working on for a year.

"Because football is so popular we thought Euro 2004 was the right time to launch it even though we didn't get the right score."

OLD MENU

MONDAY: Chicken curry with rice or chips or turkey drummers chips.

TUESDAY:Cheese, chips and beans or lasagne, chips and salad.

WEDNESDAY: Sausage, mash and beans or Shepherd's pie with mashed potatoes.

THURSDAY: Fish fingers or vegetarian samosa with chips. Bacon and mushroom pasta.

FRIDAY: Sausage beans and chips or fish and chips with mushy peas.

NEW MENU

MONDAY: Baked chicken in a tomato sauce with jacket potato and carrots or salad with a choice of tuna, cheese, egg or ham.

TUESDAY: Cheese and spinach cannelloni with salad or pasta bake and garlic bread.

WEDNESDAY: Lamb meatloaf and roast potatoes with cabbage or jacket potato stuffed with cheese and onion.

THURSDAY: Quiche Lorraine with new potatoes or fresh pasta sauce.

FRIDAY: Mediterranean chicken Calzone with salad or jacket potato with cheese and beans.

Bhavani Vadde