LUMPY custard, soggy cabbage and mushy peas are perhaps the most memorable features of school dinners in years gone by.

But with around 5,000 school meals served each day to children and staff in Swindon, memories of such favourites as frogspawn - otherwise known as semolina are a thing of the past.

Swindon Services' catering department provides meals for 65 of the 82 schools in Swindon, including secondary, primary and special schools. And an enormous amount of work, planning and preparation goes into every dinner.

Each week, planning staff at Swindon Services in Barnfield create and review the menus.

Lynda Mitchell, who is the senior operations manager for the catering department of Swindon Services, says it's a difficult task.

She said: "The meals have to meet nutritional standards and appeal to the taste of the children, so you have to consider what's good for them and whether they will eat it.

"All the foods are free from known sources of GM products, while additives and colourings are avoided wherever possible."

Chips are served just once a week usually on a Friday. Not surprisingly, Fridays tend to be the most popular day for school dinners, especially at the primary schools.

Other favourites include roast dinners as well as pasta, garlic bread and chocolate pudding.

In the past year, the team has introduced a series of theme days to coincide with children-orientated events, including a wizard lunch to celebrate the launch of the second Harry Potter film and a special football meal when England played Macedonia.

Some children require special diets and these are also catered for. The menu always has a vegetarian alternative. Other simple dietary needs are catered for, with diabetic, celiac and dairy-free meals available on request.

On a typical day it is a race against the clock for the kitchen staff across the borough.

Some schools have 'back to back' facilities where the meals are produced in one area then transported by trolley to another part of the school.

One of these is Mountford Manor School in Walcot. Each day, the kitchen staff have to set up the main hall that has often been used for PE or assembly in the morning.

Sue Porter, 42 is the head of the kitchen staff at Mountford Manor. She has helped to make around 130 meals each day for the past five years.

She said: "Each day we start at about 8.30am, a bit earlier if it's a roast day.

"But it is a good fun job and the meals are a lot better now than they were when I was at school.

"The children are still fussy about their vegetables though, and a few leave their greens.

"Many of them really dislike boiled potato. Mashed, roast and chips are fine, but plain boiled potato they won't touch."

The first groups of children to be served are the infant and reception classes.

They are served at noon, in a hall separated from the kitchens. So all the food is insulated and brought in by trolley.

At serving time all the children queue up, one table at a time, to receive their main course.

On the day we visited, the meal on the menu was pork and turkey in the shapes of snakes and ladders with mashed potato and mixed vegetables.

There was no doubting the enthusiasm of the children as they wolfed down the snakes and ladders although fewer were keen on the mixed vegetables. Many pupils picked out either the carrots or peas, and left the rest.

As well as the children, teachers and lunchtime staff get a meal.

Larger portions are cooked for teachers while the MDSA's Mid-Day Supervisory Assistants are given sandwiches and fruit to eat during their shifts.

Sharon Perrett, 38, has worked as an MDSA for eight years.

She said: "We have to work hard to get them to eat their vegetables, although often we have to compromise.

"It's a lot more difficult on a sunny day the children are excited and want to get outside and play.

"So we get them to eat as much as they can."