i think that parents should be allwoed to choose what their children eat, regardless of what the health police say. As a child i loved my packed lunch and was shocked to find that the school had banned youghurt in order to stop us throwing it at each other

Hamish, Wells,

Crisps, chocolate biscuits etc are not necessarily unhealthy; too much of anything is bad for you. School lunch is only a part of what a child eats and as long as the diet is balanced over the day, the fact that some meals are not the balanced in themselves doesn't matter a jot.

Chris, London, UK

Presumably parents will be able to send the school little notes to advise where they are going wrong too ?

Benzo, Nr Chelmsford,

Why do all these so called do-gooders feel they are better equipped to feed our kids then we as parents perhaps lunch is regarded as a snack by some so breakfast and a more substantial evening meal is provided also why should they feel bad if they choose chicken nuggets over a bland healthy dish?

Dave Farmer, Broxbourne, England

The schools are within their rights to decide what children are allowed to bring onto school premises. And no one is saying they can't have a biscuit with their healthy balanced lunch, just that they can't have crisps/biscuits *for* lunch - there's a big difference!

Sarah, London, UK

The next step is charging parents who fail to comply with those lovely little notes with "child abuse" and taking the kids away from them. Welcome to "1984", boys and girls. The only thing Orwell got wrong was the decade.

A. Lowenstein, Kansas City, MO, U.S.A.

now where is the fun in a packed lunch with a sandwich and a wilting apple in it. There is no problem with a little treat. Also, Just because the school sees a child having an apple at school that doesn't mean they are getting more fruit/veg at home!

bella, Kensington, London, UK

It has nothing to do with the school what I choose to put in my child's lunch box. I will not be told by busybodies what to feed my well-behaved normal weight son. The last time this happened, my son felt so bullied, I let him have the atrocious school meals; tiny portions, ghastly food. Bad result

Lisa McDonald, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon

A note to the parents will not have the respons you wish for. Certainly not if those teachers are overweight themselves!
Instead invite them to a 'workshop': ' How to make a healthy packed lunch with your children in 5 minutes'. Wasn't it Jamie Oliver who prooved involving kids be more succesfull!!

P.J. Rietvelt, Edinburgh, Scotland

Teacher & parent.My son won 5 class points for having the healthiest lunch, due to lack of shopping and we had run out of the treats! As a teacher I have only once questioned a student's lunch, five packets of crisps, jaffa cakes, and an apple. His lunch for a year and found it hard to focus!

Rebecca Price, Ryde,

How on earth is this going to help the problem?!?

Arthur, Newcastle,

I live in France my children spent a term in their 2nd year (age 4) learning about healthy snacks, creating a week's menu of snacks with pictures of fruits, yoghurts, cheese etc. One day a week was for sweets. The teacher even said to me one day that cheese and jam sandwiches were inappropriate!

catherine, strasbourg, france

I notice that those of the school-bashing tendency are more careless about their use of English... But lay off schools, please, it isn't their idea, but yet another government initiative.

ampersand, La Rochelle, France

This is the nanny state gone mad. Does the government really think teachers have nothing more important to do than spend time inspecting pupil's lunch boxes.

David Lechmere, Norwich,

What about the girl on the T.V. who ate nothing but chocolate because she could not eat anything else they check her out and said she was healthy. Just that her diet was boring

J.Hart, Essex, UK

If one of these notes turns up in the lunchboxes of my children, they will be getting a note back telling them to mind their own business. Growing children do not just need fruit and vegtables to grow, they need some fats. Other children may have allergies and intolerances.

carol, nottingham, notts

If parents choose to ignore professional advice and provide their children with inappropriate food then you can expect the child to lack concentration and behave badly. As a result affecting both their own and other childrens learning experience and achievement.

Pete, Bristol, UK

have this government not got anything better to spend money on? this is outrageous!!! Money could be spent better on teaching kids how to cook what they do like to eat and encouranging them to be creative with food, rather than forcing them to eat stuff they don't like!

Anderea, Manchester,

How about deaf government intervening at schools where local healthcare proviison neglectful,causing full scarlet fever to be on the premises at times,with no formal reporting and no help due to lack of letter from NHS practitioner,funny how the NHS/DoH remain unchallenged by schools!no letter?

mary foord brown, suffolk coastal,

I thought school was about educating children not about enforcing government policy. Most parents will take on board advice about healthy eating. Those that haven't will just be alienated further by snide notes in lunchboxes.

Kids have too much stress in school, let them eat their lunch in peace

Jacky, Bedford,

Iti s no business of the school or Nanny Brown what children eat. The school will be seeing some very rude notes in return.

Roger Tilbury, Worthing,

Why must the government interfere in everything with disastrous results? Why do children take their own lunches instead of having school meals? Because the government interfered with school meals and they have become unpopular with children. The independent schools do not have this problem.

George, Bolton, England

Children (and adults) should be learning to eat intuitively, that is, listening to their bodies and their hunger levels and eating the foods that contain what they need at that particular moment. Classifying foods into good and bad fosters cravings and eating disorders, and therefore obesity.

Abigail, Newcastle,

As the schools are descending to this level. I suggest parents send notes back to the schools criticising the very poor education state teachers give the children. Perhaps the parents can give suggestions to the teachers how to improve the level of instruction in arithmetics, english, science, etc

andrew, winchester,

surely teachers do not have the professional background to be giving dietary advice. I can't imagine any teacher would relish the thought of being confrontational with parents.

cheryl stratton, Yeovil,

Hilarious stuff!

No doubt there's a New Labour quango behind all this - ah yes, there it is - The School Food Trust. (£15 million of our taxes)

It's looking for new board members now: 'applications...are particularly welcomed from disabled people, members of minority ethnic groups and women'.

John Jenkins, York,

I think turnabout is fair, parents should pack their own notes in sealed envelopes in their kids' lunchboxes, containing a good telling-off for any school apparatchik. My kid, my business!

Monique , Fredericton, Canada

I don't agree with sending home scolding notes or patronising letters of congratulation, but I don't see what the fuss is about restricting what pupils can take in their lunch box - our local primary school has had these sort of rules for over 10 years,

Julia, Kent,

Whats up - can't teach, so I'll be a luch box policeman!

Since when has the contents of my childs Iunch box got anything to do with the school?

Instead of taking part in social engineering experiments schools should concentrate on the '3 R's' and at least achive one of it responsibilies.

Paul, Belper,

Policies, including healthy eating, are implemented by the state. Reminding people of them is therefore ineffective. If parents do not want to follow government guidance, that is their choice - it may be foolish, but congratulations for standing up to nannying and the idea that the state knows best.

John Scott, London,

Is there no end to state intrusion into how we live our lives, Kids used to play which kept them healthy but that was banned by the HSE. Schools used to have sports days but that was banned because losers got upset. Are we going through some kind of sick social experiment in this country? I think so

Cromwell, Leeds, England

Schools need to work with parents to help children to eat healthily and hopefully parents will welcome any such initiatives. The latest obesity figures for five-year-olds are extremely worrying and we parents should back any attempt to arrest this trend.

Helen, Andover, USA

So headteacher's when you are snooping around remember to wear gloves and a hair net please! when will you leave parent's alone i am sick and fed up of your prying.
Pay more attention fighting bully's, and do not become a "bully " yourself as many head teacher's seem to enjoy being toward parent's.

Jon, Gloucester,