COOK Cherie Gregory fits the bill for superchef Jamie Oliver's campaign for healthy school meals.

She doesn't touch anything frozen and each week takes delivery of organic food from nearby Daylesford Organics to use for her Organic Friday' school meals.

Ms Gregory, who has been cook at Kingham CE Primary School in west Oxfordshire for seven years, said: "Jamie Oliver didn't do me any favours because all school cooks were tarred by the same turkey twizzler brush.

"But I haven't used a twizzler for ages, and frozen food has been banned from my kitchen for years.

"We are the nearest school to Daylesford and one of our pupil's dads works there, so that's how we got a very good deal from them.

"A £2.50 tub of cream costs us just 25p."

The school menu was singled out for praise at a seminar at Eynsham Hall, near Witney, by the South East Food Group Partnership.

Partnership spokesman Melissa Love said: "It's vital to build good relationships between public sector food buyers and local and regional suppliers and growers."

There are now 40 schools in the county with local produce on the menu, according to Les Redhead, who leads the Food with Thought programme for school food in Oxfordshire.

He said: "One of the benefits of using local produce is less wastage in preparing the meals, and less waste on the plates because the children eat everything.

"Overall, there is a 35 per cent increase in the number of children eating school meals. They are producing tasty, nutritious lunches from fresh seasonal vegetables and locally-reared meat, all for 65p per meal."

Ms Gregory remembers what meals were like when she was a pupil at the same school: "It was the old meat and two veg. Now I try to use as much fresh and organic produce as I can," she said.

"The cheese for cauliflower or macaroni cheese is so tasty when we get it from our local source. I know not all schools can do it like us, we're lucky to have a link with Daylesford, but good, healthy local food is out there."